


Better Together

by CasualWinchester



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Alternate Universe - High School, Anal Sex, Asexual Raphael Santiago, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Sexual Situations, BAMF Isabelle Lightwood, BAMF Magnus Bane, Bad Parent Robert Lightwood, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Jace Wayland, Bottom Alec, Brother Feels, Cheating, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Consensual Underage Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers to Friends, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Good Parent Maryse Lightwood, Homophobic Language, Jace Wayland Feels, Jace Wayland Needs A Hug, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Magnus Bane Is A Freewheeling Bisexual, Pansexual Simon Lewis, Parabatai Feels, Partying, Past Kidnapping, Protective Magnus Bane, Protective Older Brothers, Public Sex, Sad Jace, Self-Harm, Social Anxiety, Suicide Attempt, Supportive Alec Lightwood, Supportive Isabelle Lightwood, Sweet Magnus, Top Magnus Bane, Underage Drinking, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-10-12 04:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 39
Words: 107,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10482141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualWinchester/pseuds/CasualWinchester
Summary: After coming out to his family, Alec and his siblings move from the busy streets of New York, to the smaller home town of their Mother. Alicante holds many new options to the socially awkward Alec Lightwood. Well it seems that way after meeting his first best friend ever, Magnus Bane and his extravagant life and friends.





	1. Chapter One

**Chapter One:**

  
A wave of nausea crashes over me, waking me up from the deep sleep I had been in. It has me bolting up from the bed and rushing towards the toilet that joins onto my room, one of the perks I got for being the oldest sibling.  
  
I make it to the toilet just in time for the entire content of my stomach to make a re appearance. It leaves me sweaty and shaking slightly.  
  
I'm used to this feeling though, as this always seems to happen the morning before an event that I am nervous about. In this case, it's something that should be simple enough, moving to a new school.  
  
Sure it seems like anyone would be nervous, but for someone like me who has the social skills of a toddler. If it's not my inability to talk to new people without making a stuttering fool of myself, the next thing most likely to scare them off, it's my anxiety.  
  
It's not something I find easy to deal with.  
  
It started becoming bad when I was ten and I figured out that I had a crush on my new adopted brother Jace. My father was a very old fashioned man and I knew he would not be happy to find out that he had a gay son. So I thought my best choice of action was to just stay quiet about it, but my younger sister Isabelle quickly connected the dots and figured it out. I didn't expect anything else from her as she was one of the smarter people I knew.  
  
I have been hiding from everyone for years, but it all came to an end last year when Dad got home earlier than we thought and heard Isabelle and I talking about boys. Well, I say we both were but it was more like Isabelle was parading around her new boyfriend Meliorn, then trying to get me to open up about my gayness by trying to get my opinion on some of her celebrity crushes.  
  
I surprised when he came into the room, eyes blazing in anger. I don't think I could ever forget the look on his face as he yelled insults and profanities in my face.  
  
It was an effective way to out me to the rest of the family. Jace didn't look all that surprised when he heard what Dad was shouting about, but he was angry that Dad couldn't see that it didn't matter that I was. He and Isabelle both jumped to my defense, both of them fighting back at everything he said to me.  
  
Mom was the one to end it all. The look of disgust on her face was enough to make me world collapse around me. I was the closest with my mother so to see that look on her face, it almost killed me.  
  
I had nothing to worry about though because her disgusted look was not aimed at me, but aimed at Dad.  
  
It turns out that not all was as happy as it seemed in their marriage. Dad had been cheating on Mom, but she didn't do anything about it for the sake of us and making sure we were all happy. I can't believe she was willing to go through such pain just for us kids.  
  
It seemed like his attitude towards me was the last straw for her. He was out of the house by the day after and I hadn't seen him since. The only word we get from him is when he sends a check in the mail, he legally had to send Mom money for looking after us.  
She didn't need the money so she always just split it up and gave some to the each of us, then she always kept some to the side each month and at the end of the year, she would take it to the orphanage for Christmas.  
  
It was the best thing his money ever went towards.  
  
Back to the present day, however.  
  
Mom had enough of where we were living before, New York was just a little too much for her and she never wanted to live there in the first place, it was Dad who wanted too. So she had suggested to us that we move to where she grew up; Alicante.  
  
We had been here several times, to visit family members, but I never thought about living there.  
  
It was a nice place, not too big like New York but also not small enough that people will easily get bored. Well, I won't get bored but perhaps my outgoing siblings will.  
  
Both Isabelle and Jace were feeling the loss of the busy streets of New York. They had both been sulking around the house complaining about the lack of things to do. I think it will better for them when they meet friends because so far the only people they had to hang out with was each other, plus me and our youngest brother Max, who was probably too engaged by some comic book to care.  
  
I'm betting that by the time it gets to the second period, they will have half of the school wrapped around their fingers. If their charms didn't do it for them, then I am sure their good looks will help them go far.  
  
They were both beautiful people and they both knew it, especially Jace.  
  
I don't think anyone else knows, but we had only been here for 2 weeks and Jace already had a fan club down at the local bar, which he was totally only allowed into because he was good to their customers. I was slightly shocked when he told me all of this. I didn't think someone could act that fast. It's also a pretty stupid idea for him to do, considering this is not the biggest place ever and Mom knows a good majority of the people here.  
  
I'm just waiting for the day where she finds out what he has been doing. I'm going to be there for the showdown that will inevitably happen. He won't be punished because he's Jace, the child she is most of a pushover with. If it were Isabelle we were talking about, then it would be a whole different story.  
  
Speaking of Isabelle, I can currently hear her complaining as she gets up for the morning. The bedroom is right next door to my bathroom so it's easy to head what's going on in her room. Sometimes I fear that it might become a bad thing. The last thing I need is to hear my little sister when she is... entertaining on of her “study buddies”.  
  
I know that she will be in my room any moment to annoy me into making her breakfast. She is not allowed to make her own if it's anything but cereal. We just bought the house and the last thing we all need is for her to burn it down.  
  
Knowing she will be worried if she finds me on the bathroom floor. I push myself up and flush down what my stomach just brought up. I then move over to start brushing away the rancid taste from my mouth.  
  
Just as I do that, Isabelle is throwing open the bathroom door.  
  
“Alec?” She mumbles as her slipper clad feet shuffle into the room.  
  
“Bath-room.” I get out around the toothbrush in my mouth. I hear her shuffle over to the open door, slightly peering in to check if I'm decent.  
  
She steps in fully when she realizes I'm just brushing my teeth. “Good morning big bro-” She stops and sniffs slightly. “Oh jeez... take it you're nervous about today, huh?” She asks before leaning over to open the window.  
  
I glare at her through the mirror. I don't answer her as my mouth is still too full of toothpaste.  
  
“I know you too well Alec, don't try to hide it from me.” She takes a seat on the edge of the bathtub. “You know you don't have to worry. I'll be there and so will Jace, he's already made a bunch of friends that you can take your pick of.” She starts picking her way through the body sprays I have set up on the counter beside the bath, smelling each one she picks up.  
  
I spit out the white paste from my mouth. “It's not a case of who I pick, Isabelle. It's the case of who wants to pick me.” I think back to all the friends I had back in our old school. It comes down to one friend. I'm not even sure you could call us friends when all we did was tolerated each other's presence at lunches. We were the outcasts of the school, so we just sat with each other so we had somewhere to sit, I didn't even know the guy's name.  
  
“People are going to die trying to be your friend, Alec. It's not like the old school filled with people who knew your whole life. This time you are officially out and proud, so you can make a better impression. I have to say that the brooding angry look you had growing up in the closet used to make you a little unapproachable, but not anymore!” Isabelle notice's my glaring as I rinse out my mouth, so she hurries to defend herself.  
  
“I don't see that happening Isabelle, I haven't changed that much,” I said before turning around to fully face her.  
  
“Please, if it's that big of a deal then I can help you, so will Jace. He promised that this time, you and he are going to rule the school or whatever, a little childish in my eyes but oh well.” She flips her hair.  
  
“Jace knows that I can't keep up with him and the lifestyle you and he live.” Isabelle looks sad for a moment. “I would rather find someone who I can actually do-” I stop myself before I start revealing too much of my hidden romantic side, as it's one of my biggest secrets.  
  
Isabelle quirks an eyebrow at me but thankfully says nothing about it. She moves on quickly. “Jace promised to keep his business away from you and from the school, you know he's going through a phase of older women.”  
  
I shake my head slightly. “How could I forget!” I was the one who had to sit with him in the back of the car whilst we traveled here from the airport, it was hours and he still managed to find enough topics to discuss with some cougar whilst I had to sit and do nothing.  
  
Isabelle laughs.  
  
“Oh shush you, Victoria is a surprisingly nice woman...amazing sense of fashion.” Isabelle sighs as she pictures something that I couldn't hope to understand.  
  
“Okay, Izzy. Whatever you say.” I laugh slightly before walking out of the toilet and into my room.  
  
Isabelle is quick to follow behind me. “You're just jealous big bro, you wish you could know what I know.” She shoots a disgusted look at my wardrobe. “Sometimes I wish you knew what I knew when it comes to your clothes.”  
  
I wrap my arms around myself, self consciously.  
  
“Hey, there's nothing wrong with my clothes, leave them alone.” I defend before crossing to said wardrobe and pulling out a soft green jumper.  
  
“No!” Isabelle storms over and rips the jumper from my grasp, she then proceeds to throw in back into the wardrobe. “I'm dressing you today, no arguments about it. You need to make a good impression.” She pushes me towards the bed. “God, we need to find you a man who knows what he is doing when it comes to this.” She shakes her head as she rifles through my clothes.  
  
I blush slightly when she says that.  
  
Ever since I came out, Isabelle has made it her mission to find me a boyfriend. It's as if she doesn't believe me when I tell her that I'm happy alone for now and that I didn't want to force anything. The right person will come along at the right time.  
  
Only if there is ever the right time.  
  
“Here, put these on than meet me downstairs for breakfast, do not make me make it on my own.” Isabelle threatens as she throws said clothes at me.  
  
“Don't you dare!” I say in a low voice.  
  
She simply smirks and winks at me before slipping out into the hallway. “I'll see you in five, big bro.” She says as she departs down the hallway.  
  
I groan loudly, I can't tell if she is being serious or not about cooking. I hope for the sake of the whole house that she decides not to.  
  
Thinking it best, I dress quickly because there is no way that I am going to try testing her. She's sneaky that way, some times she is tricking you and other times she is actually being real. This is not one of the things I am going to take a gamble on.  
  
Thankfully Izzy didn't pick out anything that I wouldn't ever wear. Just a simple, not ripped, dark red jumper and a pair of black jeans. It's something I would wear normally, but these Jeans are a little tighter than the ones I would usually wear and they have fewer holes in them. The jumper is new, I actually had to remove the tags before putting it on. It's probably one of the few jumpers I own that's not worn and torn from years of use.  
  
Overall, Isabelle did a good job in picking out clothes. Not that I doubted her, she is amazing when it comes to fashion and is always begging me to let her use me as a model for her. Really it's just an excuse for her to try to get me new clothes, but I'm not one for shopping, or being out in overly public places.  
  
That's why I have such a problem with fitting in at school.  
  
Once I had finished getting dressed, I make my way into the kitchen to find Isabelle and Jace in there. I'm glad Jace was there, he would've stopped her from doing anything that could result in catastrophe... maybe.  
  
Isabelle glances me up and down when I walk into the room.  
  
“See, you can look good, Alec.” She pulls me to the chair next to her before standing up behind me to most likely fix my hair. “I don't know why you won't come shopping with me, I could make you look so good.” Her hands run through my hair, trying to flatten it the best she can without any products around her.  
  
“Hey! cmon, I'm trying to eat, can you not do there somewhere else?” Jace complains as he moves his bowl of cereal away from us, trying to avoid getting any stray hair in it.  
  
“Oh, shut up, Jace. You can complain about sanitation. Mom almost caught you here last week, almost having sex with that twenty-seven-year-old, up against the fridge.” I jerk in surprise at Isabelle's words.  
  
“I didn't know that! Jace that's disgusting, why did you even bring one of your hook-up's here?” I ask him. “Surely they have homes of their own that you can go too, ones that don't have your siblings and mother in it.” Jace simply shrugs.  
  
“Her husband was home, what else was I supposed to do?” He asks like what he did was the most obvious thing ever.  
  
“How about stop sleeping with married women? In fact, stop sleeping with older women in general, it's disgusting and illegal.” Isabelle shakes her head at him, looking surprisingly like Mom, but I was not going to actually tell her that.  
  
Jace glares at her but says nothing else, he just goes back to eating his cereal. I feel bad almost instantly because I can see something in Jace's eyes, something he isn't telling us. Our getting on at him is not making anything better, I just wish he would tell us what the problem was, so we could help him.  
  
Jace is more complicated than one might think. Behind his cocky and brash behavior, I know that the small ten-year old that first came to us, is there, still as scared and lonely as he was the day he arrived.  
  
“Good morning!” I look away from Jace when I hear the arrival of Mom. I see her come in, with Max tailing behind her, holding a comic in his hand but looking dead on his feet.  
  
Mom comes in and drops a kiss to my forehead, waving Isabelle away as she does. “The kitchen is no place for hair grooming.” She scoffs, and I watch as Jace sends a smug look to Isabelle, who simply sticks her tongue out at him.  
  
“Enough.” I snap quietly at the both of them. They both go silent.  
  
“Are you looking forward to your first day?” Mom asks as she goes about making coffee for both herself and me. We are the only ones who drink coffee in this house, so we have this thing of always making the other one a coffee if we are making ourselves one.  
  
“Totally!” Isabelle readies herself to go into a long story. “I already met this girl when I went out shopping with Maxie, she was called Clary and we will be in the same year. She gave me her number and promised to meet me at the front entrance to help me around and to introduce her to her friends.” Isabelle looks proud that she had already managed to make friends already. It looks like I am once again the only person here who hasn't met someone.  
  
“That's lovely dear, let's hope she will be good for you,” Mom says and Isabelle stiffens.  
  
It was a low dig and we all know it. Mom was referencing to the friends she used to have in New York. She believes that it is their fault that Isabelle is herself. Not that there is anything wrong with Isabelle, she is just very confident in herself. Jace and I both find it admirable, but Mom doesn't think too highly of it.  
  
She doesn't do much to try to change her, she loves Isabelle and believes she should make her own choices, but it doesn't stop her from thinking that Isabelle should stop dressing and act the way she does. It's a weird way of showing she cares. Sure it's a little mean for her to throw harsh dig's at her, but I know it's only because she cares.  
  
“I'm going to make sure Alec meets someone!” Jace suddenly bursts out. It breaks the sudden silence of the room, making everyone, including Max, jumps in fright.  
  
He winces at the loudness of his own voice. “Sorry, I was just saying that- I am, I'm going to stick with Alec this time around, to make sure he actually settles in and makes some friends.” Jace smiles at me. I don't smile back, the way he says this, makes it sound like he is only tolerating me.  
  
I know it's not like that because Jace really is my best friend, we just never saw each other much back in our school in New York as it was big and we were spread out. This school is smaller and we are going to be in almost all the same classes as each other.  
  
“I think that's a wonderful idea, Jace.” Mom sets my coffee down in front of me and gives my hand a pat. “Don't you think Alec?” she asks before moving to sit down across the table from me.  
  
I look at the people in the room, everyone but Max is looking at me, waiting to see if I'm actually okay with this plan.  
  
“Of course, it would make things easier, and someone need's to be there to keep Jace in check,” I say with a smile. Jace scoffs at my words.  
  
“I don't need a babysitter,” He snaps then spoons some cereal into his mouth. It's all gross and soggy from the milk and I have no idea how he can eat it like that.  
  
“I beg to differ,” Isabelle stage whispers then coughs to hide it.  
  
“What was that?” Jace glares at her, but I can see the faint traces of a smile on his face.  
  
“Oh nothing, the dearest brother.” Isabelle smiles sweetly.  
  
“Oh, you'll pay for that comment Isabelle Lightwood.” Jace grins.  
  
Isabelle leans over the table, she manages to look a little intimidating, even with bed head and her bright pink floral dressing gown. “Try me Jace Herondale, I would like to see you try.”  
  
They both laugh, Mom smiles at the both of them. Looking happier than she ever did with Dad.  
  
This.  
  
This is what I needed to distract me from the upcoming day.  
  
My family will always be there for me, and things will be okay as long as I had this.  
  
I just had to remember that


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two-**

Alicante seems to be stuck in Spring for most of the year. It was warm enough for me to only need one of my light leather jackets, rolled up at the sleeves to allow some of the warm sunlight on my skin. It wasn't warm enough for me to go without like Isabelle is keen on doing.

Isabelle is wearing a pair of tight jeans that are torn in several places up the legs. Her top was a little less tight but it still fit in all the places she wished to show off.

I on the other hand, strayed closer to her, frown on my face to make sure no one looked at her in a way that was inappropriate. Jace laughed at me but I didn't care, she was my baby sister and I'm not about to let some sleazy teenage boy drool over her.

I say it like she couldn't take care of herself, when I know for a fact that she can. Over ten years worth of fighting lessons, given to her by our father on one of her birthdays, made sure of it. She could even fight in the six inch heels she seems so fond of, they don't do much compared to me though, even wearing them her head only brushes my shoulders.

Her head is currently resting there now as we sit outside the building that will now be our school. We were waiting on Isabelle's friend Clary, who said she wouldn't be long as her friend Stephen or something was taking her in his van. Jace was getting a little impatient with the waiting. As we were new, we got to miss out on the first day of the year assembly that the rest of the school had to attend. Clary and Stephen would also be missing out as they were taking care of us newbies.

"Are you sure she's even coming?" Jace whines before dropping back against the wall of the building. "She said she would be here soon, almost fifteen minutes ago." He looks down at his phone, checking the time. As he does this I notice he get's distracted by a text that was probably from one of his many hook up's.

"God, learn to be patient Jace, not everything revolves around you." Isabelle jokes.

"Please, we all know that that's not true," he looks up to wink at her, "won't you tell her please, Alec?" Jace waves a hand at me before going back to what he was doing on his phone.

I sigh at their childish antics before smiling, no matter how childish they act, they never fail to make me smile. "I refuse to get involved in your childish antic-"

"CLARY!" I jump away from Isabelle when she screams out suddenly. She moves away from me, dumping her bag on my lap. She somehow manages to run across the little walkway towards the road in front of the school. I really have no idea how she managed to run in those shoes.

A girl with flaming red hair almost drops a large art folio case on the ground as she opens her arms to welcome Isabelle's hug. God, you wouldn't think they only just met each other a couple of days ago.

Clary engulfs Isabelle in a hug and I'm shocked to see that this girl is actually smaller than Isabelle. I never thought that could be possible, unless I was talking about a child.

"Let's get this over with." Jace mumbles before pushing himself off of the wall. "Let's go bro." Jace looks at me then rolls his eyes at the girly hug going on in front of us.

I get a firm grip on Isabelle's bag before hurrying to catch up with Jace who had already began making his was towards the two people.

"-I'm so excited to show you around! you're going to love it here and my friends are just DYING to meet some new people, it gets boring around here if you have grown up- OH! You must be Isabelle's brothers?" The Clary girl turns around to smile at us.

I smile politely back at her before beginning to fiddle with the bottom of my jumper, already uncomfortable with meeting new people, god today was going to be no fun at all.

I look over at Jace, hoping he will lead the conversation from here, but I am surprised to see that he is just standing staring wide eyed at Clary. There is an unreadable look on his face, something that I have never ever seen on him before. I could tell he was attracted to her, but I couldn't blame him, if I weren't into guys then I would probably see the appeal.

"Uh, sorry about them. Alec is a little shy and Jace... well- I don't quite know about him." Isabelle explains then comes over to link her arm through mine. "Ignore Jace, he takes a little getting used to, and well Alec will find it hard to get used to people too...a whole life hiding in the closet will do that to a guy-"

"Isabelle!" I burst out.

God how could she just say it like that, I have no idea how Clary will take this. What if she doesn't agree with this or she finds me disgusting? Isabelle can't just-

"Hey, wow, Alec? it's cool... I can see you about to have a major freak out and I just want to let you know that it's cool... stick with me and you'll find that a lot of people around here don't care." Clary smiles at me brightly, and I decide then that I really like this girl.

"Thank you-"

"Clary! you honestly forgot your bag in my van...it's like the first day back, how do you manage to forget the most essential part of any school day?"

A tall lanky, nerdy looking boy comes up behind Clary. He is holding out a bag towards Clary, who quickly grabs it and blushes fiercely. She clutches it close to her chest.

"Simon, this is Isabelle, the girl I told you about." Isabelle motions towards Isabelle, who seems to have abandoned any thought about anyone but this lanky boy.

"You're cute. I'm Isabelle." She holds out a hand towards him to shake, but seems surprised when Simon smirks, takes her hand and brings it up to kiss the back of it softly.

"Simon, Simon Lewis." Isabelle grins wickedly and I already know she has some sort of plan brewing in her head. It's now my opportunity to break it up.

Clary giggles slightly, making me look at her. She is looking back and forth between Jace and I.

My eyes stray to Jace who is standing up straight, arms crossed over his chest as he eyes Simon and Isabelle with slanted eyes. I then notice that I am standing in the exact same manner, only I pull off the threatening glare better than Jace. It is my specialty.

"Um, Simon... I think it's also time you met Isabelle's older, and apparently protective brothers." Simon looks up from Isabelle, first to Clary then he seems to realize Jace and I standing there.

"Oh, uh... I'm sorry- I didn't mean to-" Isabelle laughs.

"Oh lighten up guys! Simon, just ignore Alec and Jace." Isabelle glares at us then wraps an arm around Simons then reaches to grab her bag from me. "So, Simon Lewis! why don't you show me where a new girl like me needs to go?" She begins to walk.

They walk off, leaving Jace, Clary and I standing behind.

"Well, she sure works fast." Jace comments before walking off behind them, pulling out his phone straight away and ignoring everyone else.

I roll my eyes at the both of them. What a way to make a first impression of themselves. I guess I just care a lot more than they do, they have the confidence like that.

"C'mon, we better get you sorted huh?" Clary carefully nudges me with her elbow.

"Yeah, I guess so." I say before we start following the others.

It's awkward and silent. Clary looks like she wants to break the tension by talking to me, but as usual, I probably don't look very welcoming. I guess that's what my problem is when it comes to this. I don't make things easier on others.

It needs to change if I want to make a better impression of myself. So I build up enough courage to ask her one of the questions I feel like I am going to be thinking a lot of.

"So...are you really okay with me being... y'know- gay?" I ask her suddenly, just as she holds a door open for me to go through.

Clary blinks up at me, looking surprised and shocked that I even spoke, then she seems to have realized what I had said.

"Oh, of course I'm okay with it Alec, as I said before, stick with me and meet my friends...you won't ever have to worry about someone here accepting you, in fact I think we could help you become more confident in your sexuality." Clary looks so sure of herself.

"Really?" I ask doubtfully. The idea just seems so alien when I am talking about myself.

Clary nods her head quickly. "Oh, most definitely...spend the day with us! just like Isabelle, I could introduce you to my friends." Clary looks super excited about this, so excited that she actually drops the heavy looking case she is holding, unlike outside, she fails to catch it in time. "Shit, sorry, one moment." She leans down to pick the heavy thing up.

She seems to struggle with it at first, I feel bad for her having to carry it around with her.

"Here, let me get it for you." I say before leaning down to pick the thing off of the floor. She looks up at me in shock.

"Hey, no I can handle it Alec, you're new here and we hardly know-" I cut her off.

"I know I'm new, and yeah we hardly know each other, but you have already offered me the chance to actually have a life here...and you may not get it since we literally just met, but what you're doing means a lot to me." She falters slightly, not expecting me to say that. "I think I can repay you by carrying your folio case." I say before I begin to walk again.

Once she get's over herself, she runs up to catch me, bumping my ribs with her shoulder. "I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Alec Lightwood." She says then points out the door ahead that tells us we're almost at the reception office.

"I feel you may be right Clary...?" I trail off because I am not sure of her name.

"Fairchild." She informs me.

"Nice name, Clary Fairchild." I say. Its sounds sort of fairy like, like it should belong in a fantasy book for children.

"Technically it's Clarissa Fairchild, but Clary is preferred." She shakes her head at the name Clarissa.

"Well, technically you could call me Alexander Lightwood, but as you said, Alec is more preferred." Clary laughs at that.

"God, I like you Alec, you're funny without even realizing it." She pretends to wipe away a tear. "Magnus just has to meet you," she says.

"And who is Magnus?" I ask as I push open the receptionist door for her, catching it just after Jace almost lets it close.

Clary stops laughing, realizing that she can't just talk about the people she knows in a way that I should just immediately understand.

"Magnus Bane, the "fabulous freewheeling Bisexual" of the school" She looks at me fondly. "You, Alexander Lightwood, are going to love him."

For some reason, I believe her.


	3. Chapter Three

 

**Chapter Three:**

"Home economics! we have the same first class!" Clary looks super excited as she looks down at the timetable the receptionist just handed me. She had taken it from my hands almost as soon as we exited back into the hallways.

"How does that work? We're younger than them?" Isabelle motions to Jace and I, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Only by a year, since we're such a small school, we tend to merge the two older years, AKA us, together into one big year. We have too many students here to try and separate us all out." Clary informs us. "Let me see what you have first," Clary holds out her hand for Isabelle's timetable.

Izzy stands from the seat she had found and occupied in the large lunch room. It was the only place we could wait whilst the rest of the school was in the assembly. Plus Clary also wanted to wait for the rest of her friends to come out and join us.

"She's got Human Biology with Jace and me," Simon replies before Isabelle could move any further towards Clary and I. "She'll also get to meet Raphael and Lydia," Simon speaks fondly of these two people. They must be part of this group of friends that I keep hearing so much about.

"Oh! you'll love Lydia, she is super sweet." Clary stops to think of something before pulling a weird face and shrugging almost apologetically. "Raphael- well... you just need to get used to him, he's not as bad as you intentionally think." This makes Simon burst out laughing.

"Don't worry, I'll keep her- them! I mean them, safe from Raphael's wrath." Simon's face turns bright red and I can't help but glare at him for his little mess up. I'm going to need to keep an eye on this one, that's for sure.

"How long until-" I start, eager to move on from this conversation. I'm starting to feel a little nervous again at the thought of meeting all these new people. I know it's going to happen at some point, but I'd rather put it off until that point.

"Well! who do we have here now, Biscuit?" Clary swivels around on her heel, I follow her gaze to see a boy around our age, leaning against one of the pillars next to the table were next to. I can't see much of him, due to the fact he is standing in front of the large floor to ceiling windows that take up part of one wall, the morning sun has turned him into just an outline.

"Magnus Bane! Where the hell has you been," Clary throws herself into a hug with him. Almost knocking his very expensive designer bag to the floor. The only reason I know it to be expensive is because I saw the way Izzy winced when the leather almost hit the floor.

This Magnus guy was quick to catch it, saving the expensive leather from gaining scruff marks. "Biscuit, you know I love you, but if you damage this bag... well let's just say I have some creative ways to get revenge." Magnus pat's Clary's cheek before stepping closer to us, coming to stand in the shadow of the pillar, allowing to finally see him.

I'm surprised I managed to stop myself from gaping at him.

How the hell could anyone look so- like that! honestly, how could someone look as amazing at this man does.

I quickly look away from the man. I would not allow myself to think like that when it comes to a stranger. No matter how perfect the said stranger was.

"Finally, some fresh meat! thank god, things were getting dreadfully boring around here." Magnus pulls his sunglasses off, handing them to Simon without even turning to look at him. The move made me want to laugh, he was literally (and I will never ever allow Isabelle to know that I thought this) fabulous. He looked like a diva movie star.

"Oh yeah! Magnus these are the Lightwoods." Clary comes to stand next to Magnus again. "They just moved here from New York. I met Isabelle and promised to show her around." Clary points Magnus in the direction of Isabelle.

Izzy was staring at Magnus with wide eyes. "My god, I have never met anyone who could dress as well as you." She blurts out suddenly. She immediately goes as red as Simon beside her. "I'm so sorry, that makes me sound crazy but you have no idea how hard it is to find someone with some common sense when it comes to clothes." She shakes her head and I know that she is thinking of me.

"Darling, you think I don't know your pain? try living here your whole life." Magnus scoffs then takes a moment to look over her outfit. "But... I must say, dearest Isabelle, that you are doing a very good job of curing me of my nightmare." Magnus winks at her and she grins back at him. "I see a shopping trip in the near future." Magnus looks excited by this idea.

"Oh, I think I can be persuaded," Isabelle smirks. She loved shopping and seemed to be overjoyed that she finally had someone to enjoy it with.

"I knew you'd fit in here Izzy! now all we have to do is convince that one that he can be comfortable enough to be- uh gay... I guess you could say that, around us." I close my eyes. I still find it hard being so open about all of this, so for Clary to just outright say it, well it made me feel a little queasy.

"Oh! That sounds like a job for-" Magnus cuts himself off sharply. I open my eyes to see him staring at me, nothing but pure and raw interest in his eyes. The look makes me feel like he is seeing and focusing on nothing but me. "Who. are. you." He asks then comes over to stand in front of me, completely ignoring everyone else.

"Al- Alec..." I tear my eyes away for a moment to look at Isabelle, silently asking her what the hell was going on, but she only smiles and motions downwards with her head once, telling me to just go with it.

"Short for Alexander I'm guessing?" Magnus asks as he takes my hand in a firm and unexpected shake. Sparks shoot through my skin as he touches me.

"Y-yeah but-" I stop myself from correcting him, finding myself unbothered if he used my real name over my nickname.

"Go on?" Magnus smirks as if he knew exactly what he was doing. God, I had to steer this away from that.

"Sorry, I uh not very well at t-talking to people," I say before dropping his hand. I step back slightly, not allowing myself to cross that barrier between us. I was the new weird kid, I didn't find people attractive and they sure as hell don't find me attractive. I couldn't allow myself to have any feelings like that towards Magnus. I could allow myself to be his friend, but nothing more.

"Well, I don't know about you but I think you're doing a pretty good job of it right now." Magnus smiles, also stepping back. He clearly seems to understand what I was feeling. He was respecting me and my boundaries.

"Yeah sure, I'll mess up at some point, just you watch," I say and it's enough to make him laugh slightly.

"I like you, Alexander. And don't you worry about nothing, I'll help you get over that little mental block you have there that doesn't allow you to believe that people will accept you." Magnus says then pulls me down to the table.

"I uh-" Magnus cuts me off before I could talk.

"So. Now I have met you and your sister, perhaps it's time for me to meet blondie over there, hm?" Magnus motions to Jace. "The one who seems to be permanently glued to his phone." At the mention of the word phone, Jace looks up to find us all looking at him.

"This is our adopted brother, Jace Herondale/Wayland... don't ask." Isabelle throws that last part in before anyone could question what the hell she was on about.

"Okaaay, I'm expecting to find out about THAT story, but for right now if I'm correct the bell should-" Just as Simon begins to speak, the bell cuts him off.

Almost immediately people begin to swarm out of the double doors that lead to the assembly hall.

I feel my heart picking up as more and people start swarming the hub area, some smile or wave flirtatiously at Magnus who seems to take it all in his stride, he clearly knows how attractive he is.

You had to admire his confidence.

"These must be the newbies! They were just talking about you in there." A small and pretty blonde comes bouncing up to us, a boy, almost as tall as me, walks with more patience beside her, holding her hand and stroking the back of it lovingly.

"Nice to see you too, Lydia, and way to make them feel welcome." Magnus rests a hand on my arm, it almost makes me jump. "At least introduce yourself to them first." He looks at me and rolls his eyes playfully. I chuckle at his antics.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She looks apologetically at Isabelle and me, Jace is barely paying any attention to her anyway.

"Alexander, Isabelle, meet Lydia Branwell and her boyfriend John." Magnus motions to the two people who had joined us. "Lydia and John this is Isabelle Lightwood and her brother, plus my new best friend, Alexander." I turn to look at Magnus in shock.

I had known him for less than ten minutes and he is already calling me his best friend. I don't quite know how to respond to that.

"Don't let Ragnor hear you say that, gosh, Magnus! the boy looks frightened to death... do you realize not everyone succumbs to your charm." John jokes then hold out a hand to shake mine, I return his handshake after a moment's hesitation.

"Please, both of us at least swing the same way, although I don't think he quite shares my attraction for women." Magnus winks at me. "I believe with some convincing, I can worm my way-"

"Woah! what did we just walk into?" A girl with bright blue hair asks as she and a man with green highlights in his hair, step up to us.

"Magnus is fake flirting with the new kid, poor thing." Lydia comes over to sit with me. "Don't you worry Alec, you won't have to settle for Magnus if you are interested in dating... I know plenty of guys for you-" Lydia starts.

Isabelle cuts her off when she suddenly begins to laugh. Everyone looks at her, the newbies looking confused as to why this random girl is just laughing. All Isabelle can do is point to my face and gasp out. "Oh-my-gosh...his face!" before laughing once more."

"What have you done to my brother?" Jace speaks up for the first time. He is grinning at me, probably due to the fact that my face feels like it's going to explode with embarrassment.

"I agree with blondie, leave Alexander alone. I'm sorry about them darling, just ignore them." Magnus reaches over me, allowing me to catch a whiff of whatever shampoo he has on. He grabs the piece of paper with my timetable on it, then pulls it back over to look at it. "Oh, this is perfect! C'mon Alec, looks like I have found a new partner for home economics...I can finally get away from Raj." Magnus shudders.

"Oh shit, I forgot about Class. I'm clearly still in holiday mode." Clary stands up sharply. "C'mon Magnus and Alec, let's get to class before my Mom literally kills us." Clary comes around to our side of the table. "Nice to see you Cat, looking as grumpy as ever Rags! Clary calls to the blue and green haired people.

"Mom?" I mouth to Magnus as we both stand up.

"Clary's Mom is our teacher for this- in all things that are holy, you are TALL." Magnus bites his lip slightly as he takes me in again. I blush once more.

"God, stop flirting and start walking." Clary comes to stand in-between us.

I look back over my shoulder at Isabelle and Jace, who are both silently laughing at me.

This day is turning out to be super weird.


	4. Chapter Four

 

**Chapter Four:**

For the sake of the whole school, I hope Isabelle has a capable partner in Home Economics. From August until after the Christmas break, we will be cooking. Each time we would be baking something else and trying to learn basic skills from it.

It was very hard to learn basic skills when all Magnus and I did was talk. Sure enough we done what was asked of us, but we didn't pay much attention so it didn't turn out as well as the others. Thankfully we got away with our wrongdoings as Clary's mother seemed to have a soft spot for Magnus. She even tried to help salvage whatever she could when it came to what we made.

It didn't fix it, not at all.

We had Home Economics for the whole two hours before it was time for break. Now we were sitting in what Magnus calls the common room, for our next two hour double period.

"Are you seriously telling me you haven't seen any TV show? ever!" Magnus looked shocked at what he was hearing. "I don't believe it. Nope. not at all." He waves his hands and shakes his head as if he were trying to erase the fact that I even said it.

I laugh slightly at his antics. He looked like he owned the place right now. Lounging back in one of the many large plush chairs, his feet resting on the table in front of us, he was also eating strawberries, which I started to find very distracting after a while. Surely it's a sin to look like that even when doing something as simple as eating fruit.

"Well you'd better believe it, not one show ever. I never saw the appeal in it." I say to him. His hand flies to his chest and he mock gasps.

"Excuse me! Alexander Lightwood, this is the golden age of television, I'm sure there is something out there that you would like...I have no doubt about it." Magnus fishes out his phone from his pocket. "By the end of today, I'm going to find something for you to watch." Magnus opens up an app in his phone, which I'm guessing is going to be Netflix or something along those lines.

"I don't think-"

"Nope. No best friend of mine is going to be as uneducated in pop culture as you seem to be. Now it's time for a game of twenty questions, just so I can get a feel of what you're into." Magnus kicks his feet off of the table then turns to look at me. Eyes wicked, he pulls out a notebook and pen from inside his bag. God even his school appliances look amazing, like who has a leather bound notebook for school.

"Do we have to?" I ask with a smile. I turn around to face him anyway, knowing that I probably don't have a choice in it.

"Yes. Alexander this is very important, it insult to my kind that you think that I shall not take this seriously." Magnus sounds offended but by the look in his eyes, I can tell that he doesn't actually feel that way and that he is actually very excited about this whole thing.

"Your kind?" I raise on eyebrow in question. Magnus throws up his hands in mock exasperation.

"TV lovers!" He begins to laugh. "I need to pass on my wisdom to little newbies like you, and I will take that responsibility very seriously." Magnus drops his hands to pick up his pen. "Now. Question One..."

It goes on like that. For the next ten minutes. Me answering questions that range from my favourite colour, to my all time favourite book genre.

When he was done, Magnus looks through all of my answers that he has written down. "Perfect, I should be able to find everything you may be interested in, and some of my own personal picks." Magnus scribbles something down on another sheet of paper. He then proceeds to tear it out of his book. He hands it over to me.

I look down to see what looks to be a username and password.

"That is my Netflix information. By seven pm tonight I will have set up a list for you to go through." Magnus looks proud of himself.

I stare at him in shock. "Magnus, I'm pretty sure we have-" Magnus stops me.

"I know you may have your own Alexander, but considering all you have told me today, I'm guessing you never use it as often as your siblings...am I right?" He asks and yes. He is exactly right.

My silence seems to answer everything for him.

"Just as I thought. I'm the only one who uses mine, so at least with you using it, My mother will get her money's worth." Magnus kicks his feet back up onto the table. "And you get to use Netflix without pesky younger siblings snooping on what you are watching." Magnus adds that last bit in and it's not until now did I realise that this would be better for me when it comes to privacy. Magnus will already know what I'm watching anyway, so it wouldn't matter if he saw what I was watching.

"Thank you." I say before settling back into my own chair.

"You can thank me by buying me a coffee, I'm going to need it to get through Maths with Mr Fletcher." Magnus groans dramatically.

I laugh at his antics. "Sure, I'm pretty sure I saw that overrated coffee shop on our way in today." I say as I swing my bag onto my shoulder. I begin to walk out of the common room when Magnus almost runs to stop dead in front of me.

"You better not be talking about Starbucks... Oh my god! you so are! Alexander how do you even live?" Magnus takes me by the hand. "You better be so glad we met, I'm going to save you from the world you have been living in, don't you worry about that my darling." He then proceeds to start mumbling about how anyone could call Starbucks overrated.

I however am having a mini freak out over the fact that he just called me Darling.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  
After a long hour of just speaking with Magnus and drinking too many cups of coffee, I meet up with Jace as we both have to go to English class together. Simon offered to also meet us and show us the way as he would be in our class.

Simon had just run back in with two travel cups of coffee.

"Hey guys! I just need to run these to Clary up in art before we head to class." Simon pants. He cleary isn't in very good shape as he is panting from the short run from Starbucks to the school.

"We'll go with you, I have that class tomorrow anyway so it will be good for me to see where I am going- hey do you need help with those?" Jace rambles and without even getting an answer from Simon, he is taking both of the cups from Simon's hands.

I blink in surprise, as does Simon. Both of us unsure on what to say. It was the most Jace had spoke to anyone today and he also never offered to help someone with such a simple task of holding their coffee.

"Uh thanks but you don't-" Simon stops himself when Jace simply begins to walk.

"What way to the art department?" He calls over his shoulder. Simon looks over to me, asking for some sort of help but I simply shrug, trying to say that I have no idea what's going on either.

"I guess we better go before he get's himself lost." I suggest and Simon nods in agreement.

We both begin to walk behind Jace, every so often Simon will tell Jace to turn a corner or go up one flight of stairs. Once Jace did what he was told, Simon turns to me.

"What's happened to him? he was so quiet before?" Simon rakes his eyes up the back of Jace.

If my eyes aren't lying to me, I'm pretty sure they linger on Jace's ass for a moment longer than they should've. I wonder what that's all about.

I realise then that Simon had turned to look at me, eyebrow raised, waiting for me to give him an answer.

"Oh, I uh- couldn't tell you, he's never been that helpful with anyone." I tell Simon and it seems to peak Simon's interest even more. I'll need to tell Isabelle about this the next time I see her. She's probably not going to believe it.

"Clary's just in there," Simon suddenly calls ahead then motions to a large art room to our left. Jace is first to enter, we are close behind.

The room is clearly a studio set up for the more progressed artists of the school. There's art supplies everywhere and parts of students folios set around the room drying or whatever they are doing.

Clary is the only one in here. She has earphones in her ears and it sticking her tongue out in concentration as she works on whatever she is doing.

Simon walks up behind her and pulls out the earphones. "Coffee break Fray, don't overdo yourself." Simon gently takes one of the coffee cups from Jace then proceeds to hand it to her. "You're mom would kill me if she thought I wasn't making sure you stayed hydrated and healthy." Simon shudders at a thought.

"Okay, but I highly doubt that coffee is the healthiest choice," she takes a long sip, "but it is going to get me through this day." Clary sighs at the taste and I can't help but be a little jealous of her, I love coffee and I could probably drink it all day.

"What's the problem?" Jace asks, walking over to take a closer look at what Clary was working on. "It's amazing? I don't see why you should be stressing." Clary looks a little shocked, as I probably do too. What's going on with Jace and why did it change his mood so suddenly. Screw waiting until I see Isabelle, this deserves to be heard of straight away.

Without anyone noticing, I pull out my phone to text Isabelle about what is happening.

"I- thank you Jace." Clary says after fumbling around for something to say. "But uh, it could be better- stupid photographer got the lighting all wrong so I can't see all the crucial details I need to complete this, and I'm running out of time to send this off to the universities for next year!" Clary throws hateful glances at the image she had been recreating.

She was right, the lighting and the composition in the image is all wrong and was clearly taken by someone who thought you could just pick up a camera and take a beautiful image. They didn't even get the white balance right! all of the white in the image was now a dull disgusting yellow, no wonder Clary was having problems.

"Get Alec to do it, he's amazing at photography." Jace throws out casually and suddenly I'm the one under everyone's attention. Damn, I should've known Jace would suggest that.

"Could you Alec? I mean- you don't have too, you don't owe me anything-"

"I'll do it." I say, just to make her stop rambling.

"Really!" Clary looks like she wants to cry and hug me at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm not going to be the guy who stands in the way of you possibly getting into university. Just tell me where that place is and I'll be right on it." I say with a smile.

"Oh it's-" Clary stops, looks at Simon with a large smile on her face.

"It's at Magnus's Cabin. We invited the photographer who took that, to one of Magnus's parties." Simon tells us. "Magnus never really goes there unless it's with a bunch of friends, for a party, or for a good reason. They always turn out to be the best weekends." Simon looks away wishfully, smile on his face.

"Oh so- what do I do?" I ask, making the smiles on their faces grow larger.

"Clear your weekend! once Magnus gets word of this, he'll be planning the party-"

"Party?" I feel my face go white. Being social at school is something I can handle, but a party? even the thought of it makes me want to panic slightly.

"Guys... that's not a good idea." Jace jumps to my side, hand on my shoulder. "As we said this morning, Alec is pretty shy and I think he would rather do anything else."

Simon and Clary deflate for a moment and I suddenly feel horrible for ruining their fun.

"I- I think I could st- still go but I could leave... Izzy and Jace could stay?" I suggest as I don't want them to go without just because I couldn't handle that kind of situation.

"Like Magnus would let us do that!" Clary shakes her head like the thought of leaving me out was just to silly to even consider. "No, we'll just go down as a group! it's always better when it's just us friends that are there." Simon nods his head in agreement.

"Clary, you are in charge of talking to Magnus, we have English class to go to." Simon looks up at the clock above the door, I follow his gaze to see that we are almost five minutes late. "Shit, we really need to go. See you for lunch Tweek!" Simon calls to Clary as he starts to head towards the door.

"See ya guys, and don't worry Alec, I'll work out all the details with Magnus now and I'll message Izzy about them." Clary smiles once more at me then puts her earphones back in.

I stall for a moment before following Jace and Simon, who had already left the room, out into the hallway.

"Good thing you guys are new, it will at least get you guys out of trouble with Mr Hodgeweather, he's pretty laidback with everything apart from tardiness." Simon says to Jace just as I walk out of the room.

"If all else fails, I'll charm you out of detention." Jace offers and it makes Simon laugh.

"Yeah, sure that's soo going to work," Simon shakes his head. "Not the sarcasm."

"So little faith in me Simon, whatever should I do about it?" Jace teases...actually it's more like flirted, is Jace flirting with Simon? that's... new.

Isabelle is going to love this. 


	5. Chapter Five

 

**Chapter Five:**

The rest of the first day was uneventful. We sat with the group at lunch and were introduced to some of the others that we had yet to meet. Such as Ragnor and Catarina. Clary promised to introduce us to their two other friends Maia and Jordan, saying that they finish early on days like this as their classes finish just before lunch.

The only bad thing about lunch was that Magnus wasn't there. He was the one I had grown closest too today so I was a little disappointed when I didn't get to see him.

I don't know why he wasn't there and no one seemed to think about saying anything. It must be something that happens a lot.

I guess Magnus is a pretty social guy, he probably has many friends. He wouldn't miss out on spending time with people he has known for ages, just to spend some time with the new guy. I'm not that lucky.

Sure my luck stretched enough for Magnus to actually speak to me in the first place. No one but my family has ever put that much effort into being around me, it was nice, but I let myself get too indulged and I was a little selfish with the attention. I shouldn't have believed that Magnus would care that much.

"Alec?" fingers snap harshly in front of my face.

I was sitting at the kitchen table, a cold cup of coffee in front of my hands. It was untouched, my mind was too far away to remember that it was even there.

Isabelle was sitting across from me, looking slightly concerned. "You okay there?" She asks before putting the back of one of her hands to my forehead. "Are you coming down with something?"

I bat her hand away from me. "Izzy, stop worrying, I'm okay just tired." She pulls her hand back, still looking concerned. "I'm not used to all of what happened today, I've never really had to focus on meeting and talking to so many people." I say in a way of explanation and it seems to work because Isabelle's concerned look is replaced with understanding.

"Ah, I get it now but Alec, you did so well! you actually made friends today and it was without our help." Isabelle looks proud. "You and Clary hit it off almost straight away, I hardly had to introduce you before you were both in deep conversation. And you are the one that got us plans for the weekend... when has that ever happened?" Isabelle throws her hands up, as if this would help explain something.

"I mean, I got you and Jace plans... I won't be staying, I already told Clary that I didn't want to hold you-" I'm cut off by the shrill sound of the doorbell going off.

"Ah! yes, that would be your visitor." Isabelle pats me on the head once before almost jumping out of her seat.

"My- my visitor? I don't remember inviting- Isabelle!" Isabelle is out of the room in seconds, not even allowing me enough time to ask who it was that I apparently invited to the house.

With a sigh I push my chair back from the table so I could get up to follow her. Sometimes this girl drives me mad.

As I exit the kitchen, I could hear the sound of the door opening and voices floating through the doorway.

I freeze because one of those voices is achingly familiar. That voice belonged to one Magnus Bane.

Why is he here... I didn't invite him here without realising it, did I?

"Alec!" Isabelle calls up the hallway. She knows that I am there so I don't have much of a choice when it comes to what I'm supposed to do. I take a deep breath to brave myself for what is about to happen. Perhaps Magnus is here to uninvited me from his party, since I'm too anti social to be a part of it and I'll probably just bring down the mood.

I round the corner to see Magnus and Isabelle standing in the doorway. Isabelle was hanging up Magnus's jacket on one of the hooks beside the door.

Magnus looks at me as soon as I walk through the door.

"Alexander! how lovely to see you again." Magnus's grin reminds me of one of a child's on Christmas day. It makes me blush and duck my head.

"I invited Magnus here as he told me about his little plan to try and educate you a little more when it comes to pop culture, something I have been trying to do for so long. If I can't do it then I'm glad you're at least letting someone do it." Isabelle sends me a private wink.

"As I said to Alexander today, this is a very serious matter and I will make sure the poor thing is cured." Magnus jokes, making me smile slightly.

"I know some things." I say in defence of myself. "I like the sound of that Game of cards?" I say.

I am met with silence before Magnus groans and Isabelle face palms.

"It's Game of Thrones darling, this is more serious than I thought, we must get started straight away." Magnus comes over to grab hold of my arm. "Shall we?" He asks me, his tone nothing but serious.

"Uh, sure I guess, this way." I gently pull on his arm to guide him to the stairs. It's best to do this in my room because I know that the fact that I have a friend over is going to be a big deal as it has never really happened before. Hopefully Mom doesn't find out because I know she'll do something embarrassing.

I lead Magnus to my room, stopping slightly when we get just outside of it.

"It's not much." I say in reference to my room because it's really not. I only have the simple furniture that everyone needs, and maybe one or two photo frames of my family. I did have more but I got rid of all the ones with Dad in it.

"I may be extra Alexander, but even I can cherish the small things." Magnus grins. "Shall we?" he asks after a moment of silence, his eyes glancing to the door then back to me.

"Uh, okay...yeah let's do it." I say before pushing the door open.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  
"I don't like that guy at all, or her at all." I say to Magnus as the 5th episode of the Walking Dead starts to play out. "How could he do something like that to his best friend, and her! how could she do that to her husband and child?" Shane and Lori have to be the worst kind of people.

"Well in their defense, they did think Rick died in the break out, they were finding comfort in each other." Magnus pipes up from where he is lying on my bed. His head propped up on several pillows s he lies on his stomach, socked feet lazilly kicking in the air. "But I do get what you mean, not enough time had passed for what they did to be alright and believe me Alexander, it's just going to get worse."

"How could it get worse, well I mean apart from Rick finding out?" I ask, I couldn't imagine how they could do worse than sleeping with each other and hiding it from Rick.

"Trust me." Is all Magnus replies. He then looks down at the time on his phone. "Well Alexander, I think it's time for me to leave. Places to be and all that."

I stare at Magnus, confused as to where he has to go so urgently at this time. It had already been evening when he arrived here and it'd been a couple of hours since he got here so it was probably a little late.

Magnus notices my confused look. "I'm going to stay with a... friend, you could say." Magnus taps my arm with his foot. "Well, more like friend with benefits kind of thing, Will is good when it comes to that." For some reason, hot jealousy runs through my veins at his words.

I don't know why, it's not like Magnus would or could ever be interested in me. He probably is only spending time with me because he is a sociably guy, and I'm the new one in town. People had been trying to talk to me all day, Magnus just got there before anyone else.

"Oh- right, need to go." I mumble before getting up to find the remote for the TV, stopping the next episode from playing.

"Yeah, don't you know it." Magnus winks before pulling up his phone to text someone, probably this Will guy.

My throat closes up and I have no idea what to say to that, I don't want to sound strange to this guy I had just met.

"This was nice Alec, we should do it again sometime." Magnus slinks off the bed to put his shoes back on. He is talking to me but his mind is more preoccupied on Will.

It made my stomach hurt in a twisted fashion and something burn behind my eyes. A strange feeling builds up in my chest, something I have never felt before in my life but it was similar to the feeling I got when I saw the look in Dad's eyes when he found out that I was gay.

It felt slightly like rejection.

"Yeah, sure." I say, almost sadly but Magnus doesn't seem to notice.

Once he had his shoes on, he stands up to pull on his jacket, he then proceeds to grab his bag.

"I'll show myself out, don't worry." Magnus is still on his phone but when he comes up to stand next to me, he stops and looks up. "I'll see you tomorrow yeah? meet before school, I still need to school you on good coffee." He then rests a hand on my arm.

I almost tense under his touch. The feeling of rejection is still clear in my mind but the temptation of agreeing with him is too much and I can't help but agree.

"Su-sure, but I might be with Isabelle and Jace." I tell him, and for some reason he pouts.

"If that's what it takes to spend some time with you, then I'll gladly spend some time with the beautiful Isabelle and... well Jace." Magnus looks troubled for a moment but he then seems to get a hold of himself. "Well goodnight Alec." He bids me then he leaves the room.

I stand in the same spot for almost fifteen minutes after he left. Feeling slightly cold and lonely.

I don't know why I feel like this, it's almost like I'm just here. Magnus already knows so many people, and he has relationships with people that don't seem to mean much to him. He did say that Will was only good because they were friends with benefits.

Could that end up being me?

I mean I'm probably nothing like this Will guy and I'm a little too damaged to be anything that Magnus could want. Perhaps he'll just be with me until I am not longer the new thing around here.

Hopefully the people who I made friends with today, will still be my friends after the excitement of the new kids wears off.

Now that I know what it could be like to be accepted and to have some friends, I don't think its going to be very easy to watch them go if it comes down to it.

It will probably break me.


	6. Chapter Six

 

**Chapter Six:**

This morning was even worse than yesterday morning. Sure I did throw up yesterday, but I didn't get much sleep last night as I was too busy worrying about Magnus and what was going on there.

What's even worse is that Isabelle thinks it's a good idea to begin banging on my door and shouting loud enough to wake everyone else up.

"Alec c'mon we need to leave!" She calls through the door. "We have to meet Magnus in like fifteen minutes, so you better be ready or I swear to god I-"

Before she could finish her threat, I was pulling open the door, frowning at her when we are standing face to face. "Stop shouting Izzy!." I snap before ducking back into my room to grab my bag from where it sat on my desk chair. "It's too early for that, Mom and Max don't even need to be up yet." I say once I'm by her side again.

"Woah, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Good thing Magnus asked to meet at Starbuck's, I feel like you're going to need some caffeine to get through this day, especially if we have to deal with this new side of Jace." Isabelle begins to walk down the hallway.

I frown, unsure of what she was talking about. Sure Jace was acting weird yesterday, but it wasn't that bad surely. I follow Isabelle down the hall, managing to catch her arm before she starts making her way down the steps to where Jace is probably waiting for us.

"What do you mean, Izzy?" I ask, glancing downstairs to make sure Jace wasn't there. "What's wrong with Jace?"

She laughed slightly. "Beats me, he's been overly nice for some reason. He made me breakfast this morning... bacon and pancakes. He only ever makes that on my birthday, and he never went on his phone once whilst we were eating. " She suddenly drops her voice then leans in closer to me. "I did manage to sneak a peak at his phone, he's in some weird group chat with Clary and Simon... I didn't know they were that close already. But after breakfast, whenever he got a message from them he would smile ridiculously."

Okay that is weird. "Do you think he likes Clary?" I ask her. The thought of Jace having feelings for someone who is actually our age, is a little weird. I don't think that has happened since we were twelve and he got his first real crush, that only lasted a while before he started crushing on a fifteen year old (luckily said fifteen year old, didn't have the same feelings.)

"He could... I mean I doubt it would be Simon, Jace is as straight as you are gay." Isabelle waves a hand around me as if it made a point. "Yeah, I think he might have a thing for Clary." Isabelle grins brightly. "This is amazing! I'm so going to try and set them up-"

"Set who up?" we both jump at the sound of Jace's voice behind us.

We both turn to see Jace, standing there looking confused, phone in hand.

"Oh- uh... I was talking about...Magnus and Alec!" Isabelle burst out and I immediately choke on air.

"Isabelle!" I cough out, not believing what she just said.

"Wow, really?" Jace asks, looking at me with a shocked look on his face. "I don't think I have ever seen you have feelings for anyone but me, good on you bro." Jace moves past us to walk down the steps.

"I- I don't have feelings for him!" I call down to him, "Isabelle was just kidding." My eyes snap to hers, she was laughing slightly at how flustered I was getting. "Tell him." I hiss under my breath to her.

"God, you are no fun." Isabelle whispers as she walks downstairs. "Alec's right, Jace. They don't feel that way about each other, in fact I think Magnus may have a boyfriend now." She then goes on to add.

It leaves me frozen at the top of the stairs.

Is she talking about Will? were they more serious than Magnus made them out to be? and how did she know about them already? he only told me last night.

"Oh yeah, I heard they had lunch together yesterday." Jace murmurs as he slides his leather jacket on.

"I think they are doing the same today, it's really sweet how they set aside that time for each other, Alec? are you coming?" Isabelle is standing by the front door, eyebrow raised in question.

"Oh- uh yes, I'm coming." I say before hopping down the rest of the steps. I barely look at either of them as I make my way outside.

I'm guessing that we are walking to school today as Mom is not up and around for dropping us off. I'm not too bothered as it won't take us that long to get there. It's only five minutes away from the house.

"You really are not a morning person are you bro?" Jace asks with a laugh as he joins me outside, catching up with me as I begin the walk to Starbucks.

"And you suddenly are? I fire back at him," only giving him a brief side glance.

Jace doesn't say anything after that. Which leaves Isabelle the only one to make conversation with.

"So, is Magnus coming back over again tonight? Mom wanted to meet him but she got home too late and he had already gone." Isabelle loops an arm through mine as we continue walking.

I shake my head slightly. "Probably not, he's most likely a busy guy with more friends than just me." I say to her. "Last night was probably just a one of thing."

Isabelle scoffs. "Please, he wouldn't shut up yesterday when he was talking to me about your lack of entertainment, he was seriously concerned that you just sat and stared at walls all day." She laughs. "I think he likes spending time with you and you him, but you are just so deep in your own little shell, that you can't get out to see that." She pats my arm softly. "But I think Magnus can help you with that."

I shake my head softly at her optimism. "We'll see." I say, not really believing it because the thought of this Will gut is making me jealous, even though I have no reason to be. I can't seem to help thinking that as long as he is around then I'll never really have Magnus as a friend.

"Crap! I knew we'd be late, he's already here." Isabelle curses, and it was then that I noticed that we had arrived at Starbucks.

I could see Magnus sitting in a booth seat next to the window, he was on his phone and there was frown on his face.

Was he angry because we were late.

"God, Alec go in there and we'll get drinks." Isabelle pushes me forward. "What do you want." She asks before I could walk too far away.

"Just get me a coffee. Just a simple black coffee, with two sugars." I say to her before pushing open the door. They follow in behind me but they head straight to the counter whilst I walk over to where Magnus is sitting, still looking unhappily at his phone.

"Hey, sorry we're so late." I say before slipping into the booth across from him.

He looks up surprised, like he wasn't expecting me to be there.

"Oh! Alexander, no you're not late I'm just here early." He says then leans forward on his arms. "No offense darling, but you look like death warmed over." Magnus leans over to touch just under my eye. "Did you not sleep?"

His fingertips are warm against my skin and it takes everything in me to not lean against them, to let him know that I welcomed his touch.

"Not really." I say before letting out an unexpected yawn. "But I can live with it, this is not the first time. "I say with a small laugh.

Its not 100% true. Sure I've had some late nights but none of them were for the same reason as last night.

"Well it looks like we're in the same boat today, Alexander." Magnus leans back against the high booth wall behind him, yawning as he does so.

I look down at the table, blush blooming on my face as I think of the reason why Magnus didn't get a lot of sleep-

"God, Will was no fun last night." He complains then looks back at his phone. "We ended up getting in a fight over something." He tells me, making my head snap back up to look at him.

"About what?" I ask a little urgently, making him look a little startled. "Sorry, that was- what did you fight about, if you don't mind me asking." I correct myself quickly.

Magnus looks wary for all of two seconds before whatever it was that was bothering him just made him look mad. "He said I was too distracted and that he didn't care that I had a "new bestie" or whatever. He just wanted to get right down to business." Magnus looks down at the table. "I should've known, we don't exactly have the type of relationship that involves any sort of conversations, we hardly know anything about each others lives." Magnus looks sad by that, and my heart flutters. He got into an argument about me? with someone that he must've known much longer than me. Why is he even still putting up with me, after I had caused that.

"I'm sorry." I say after a moment. I was unsure what else to say. How do you apologise to someone you just met for making them fight with someone they cared about.

"Whatever for, Alexander?" Magnus looked genuinely confused, his head tilting to the side like a puppy.

I opened my mouth, as if I were about to answer him but it was in that moment that Isabelle and Jace decided they were going to make themselves knows.

"Morning Magnus!" Izzy cried as she sat next to him and pushed my coffee over to me. Jace gave him a nod before sitting down and checking his phone.

As he was sat next to me, I could see that he was busy speaking to Simon, like how Isabelle told me this morning.

Something about the smile on his face makes me wonder if Clary is the one Jace is interested in. I know Jace is into girls but I don't know if that's where he reaches his limit. He has never expressed any interest to me about wanting to be with a guy, but then again it is me and I am the king about not talking about his feelings.

For all I know, Jace could be interested in guys, but just doesn't think he can talk to us about it. He was always like that, I think especially with our father around. Jace was always trying to prove that he could be just like any other perfectly trained Lightwood son.

"Why, Isabelle." Magnus leans over to move a misplaced hair out from Isabelle's face. "You look simply stunning today." Magnus says and it surprisingly makes Isabelle blush. Not very many people can make her do that, she is too proud.

"I could say the same about you. You're makeup looks amazing." Isabelle points out and I suddenly find myself out of the conversation. They begin to talk about different types of makeup's and what is the best place to shop at around here. I tried to keep up but I didn't understand half of what they were saying.

So instead of trying, I just lean my head back against the booth so I could drink my coffee and relax before school starts.

As I did that, I unconsciously found myself watching Magnus as he spoke to my sister.

She was right, his makeup was amazing today. It really brought out his eyes, which I notice were a rich brown colour that looked only to be worn by someone royal. It sounds weird of me to say but, they brown colour just doesn't seem to suit Magnus, I would've thought him to have something different, more unique.

The more he spoke, the more he got into the topic of discussion. His hands became more animated and his eyes brightened whenever Isabelle asked him his opinion on something.

He was so up for answering any question she had. The way they were leaning into each other and talking made it seem like they had been friends forever, little less than just a day.

I was happy for this friendship because if someone could make Isabelle smile the way she was smiling, then of course I was going to be happy.

I'm just glad she is making friends that actually care about her this time around. The thought makes me smile. How glad I am that Magnus Bane came into our lives.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of me neck stand up. Someone is looking at me without me knowledge.I quickly turn my head to the side to find Jace grinning at me, a complete megawatt smile that makes me feel on edge.

"What?" I ask him, quietly so I didn't disturb the conversation going on in front of us.

"Nothing, just...you already have it bad bro." Jace laughs, drawing out the a in bad, just to make a point.

I blink at him, unsure as to what he is on about. "What?" I ask.

"Please, don't act like you don't know..." Jace raises an eyebrow at me.

"I really don't know what you are on about Jace." I say, starting to get frustrated with him and how he is acting.

Jace is silent and unbelieving for a moment but then something seems to dawn on him and the smile is back on his face. "I completely forgot you have as much experience walking down this path as a baby lamb taking it's first steps." Jace leans in close to me. "You, my friend, are falling for that man right there. Whether you know it or not."

"What!" I shout, drawing the attention from almost everyone in the room. I receive some angry glares from those not-so morning people. Jace chuckles from beside me.

"You alright, Alexander?" Magnus asks, and I jump at the sound of his voice.

Surely I'm not falling that bad for Magnus. Sure I think he's one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen- but surely that doesn't mean that I'm falling for him.

"I- yes, I'm fine..." I say before ducking my head to look at the lid of my coffee cup.

"What did you do the poor boy?" Magnus asks Jace before settling a sot and warm hand onto mine.

"Oh, nothing." Jace smirks before going back to his phone, winking at Isabelle before he does so.

Oh shit, it was bad enough that Jace was in on this, now he is going to involve Izzy and I will never hear the end of it.

Great.


	7. Chapter Seven

 

**Chapter Seven:**

Jace seemed to be keeping a closer eye on me throughout the rest of the day. Just as Isabelle was watching every interaction Jace was having with Clary.

I didn't tell anyone but as they were watching me, no one noticed how close attention I paid to Simon and Jace. As it isn't something that seemed obvious, I thought I should keep an eye on them just in case. I wanted to be there for Jace as he was there for me when I came out, I wouldn't want him to be alone or to feel alone, just like I did.

The thing with Jace though is that he didn't need to bother with watching me because I pretty much didn't see Magnus again until the period before the end of the day. Even then he was with someone, they were both flirty with each other so I guessed that I should just leave them alone. I didn't want to ruin it for him again like I did last night with Will.

Perhaps after this morning that it was it between us, the small hope of friendship was gone in a blink of an eye. It hurt me in a way I know it shouldn't after only knowing him for just about two days. We weren't that close, and we didn't even know each other in any way. All I know is that he and Clary are one of the first two people that has shown any interest in me for a long time.

That's probably why it hurt so much to see him walk out of school, without even a goodbye, tucked under the arm of some guy.

I watched as they got into the other guys car, all smiles and laughing. A stinging pain shot through me like a bolt of lightning and I found myself looking away from the happy couple. I should be happy for Magnus right? that's what friends are supposed to do, but are we even friends?

"Trouble in paradise?" A girls voice says from beside me. I turn to look that two people had joined me by the school entrance. They were the two people that I met yesterday, the ones with the coloured hair, Catarina and Ragnor.

"I'm sorry?" I ask, my palms sweating. What was she implying.

"I saw you glaring at Will over there, I'm guessing Magnus has told you about him." Catarina glares at the back of the car as it pulls out of the parking lot.

Oh my god, that was Will? no fucking wonder Magnus wanted to sleep with him. How the hell could I ever compete against that?... well not that I want to compete for Magnus like that. Totally not what I want to do, no matter what Jace thinks.

"Oh y-yeah he did." I say, I could feel the colour draining from my face as I thought about Magnus and Will. What were they about to do now? Magnus said that they were only together physically and not emotionally...were they going away to have sex?

"God I hate that prick." Ragnor sneers. He said it in a way that makes it seem like he wished Will could hear him. It made me laugh slightly.

"Me too." I mumble, without even thinking about it.

Ragnor and Catarina turn to look at me, eyes wide. "Why do you hate him? do you even know him?" Ragnor asks, eyebrow raised. Catarina just looks at me with a knowing smirk.

"He uh- just doesn't seem like the kind of person Magnus deserves... but then again I don't know them all that well, I shouldn't even be giving my opinion on it." I look at the ground, cheeks blazing in embarrassment. God I so hope they don't tell Magnus that I said any of this.

They're probably going to be mad at me for saying all of this-

"Who cares if you don't know them, you are one-hundred percent right." Ragnor moves over to stand in front of me. "Magnus doesn't deserve to be used in the way that Will is using him. But Magnus is too stubborn to see that." He runs a hand through his green hair. "We've tried to convince him otherwise for so long, but he believes what they have is right because they have never once had a fight, and in his books, that's what makes it-"

"But they did have a fight." I say, interrupting whatever Ragnor was going to say. "Last night. Magnus told me about it this morning." Catarina comes to once again stand beside Ragnor.

"What did they fight about? do you know? perhaps we can use that to show Magnus that this isn't a good idea." Catarina looks excited at the new possibility in front of her.

I on the other hand, was suddenly nervous. "Uhh, they we- were arguing about...me." I say, without looking up at them. "Will was annoyed that Magnus kept talking about me whilst they were trying to... y'know?" Catarina smirks.

"Of course he would. Will can sometimes get a little jealous, even if he doesn't feel certain things when it comes to Magnus." She shakes her head slightly. "I can see that this is effecting you more than Magnus knows?" She asks.

I look up at her, trying to figure out what she is so obviously hinting at. "Uh, I guess so? I mean no one deserves to be in a relationship with someone who doesn't appreciate them the same way." I say. It's true, Magnus doesn't deserve someone like Will. I've only known him for two days and I already know that he has the biggest heart ever and he deserves someone who could recognise that.

"Yes, you're totally right..." Catarina trails off, lost in some thought in her head. "Say, Alec...do you want to accompany Ragnor, Lydia and I out? we're going to get some food?" She asks, eyes glinting.

Some part of me would rather that I went home, curled up and watched one of the many shows Magnus wants me to watch. But then I know I should start playing nice if I want to keep friends after I end up loosing Magnus.

I just need to suck it up for a while. I don't want to lose these people especially after them accepting me so easily.

"Sure. Why not." I say, without knowing what I had just gotten myself into. 


	8. Chapter Eight

 

**Chapter Eight:**

"Are you okay for Italian?" asks Lydia.

I look to my right, to get a look at her. She is sitting next to me in the back of Catarina's car. She smiles softly at me, waiting for my answer.

"Yeah, it's my favourite. Mom makes it all the time." I tell her, deciding to throw something out there that could possibly start a conversation between the two of us. Lydia seems to be a nice girl and I think she would be a good person to become friends with. I think we could have plenty in common, if we just got to know each other.

"Really? my mom sucks at it, but she's amazing at Spanish food." Lydia's face turns dreamy, almost as if she is dreaming of the food she was speaking so highly of. "That's why I like coming to the restaurant we're on our way too. It's the only time I get to eat good Italian food, without the risk of food poisoning." Lydia laughs, and I find myself letting out a small laugh too. I think I was right when it comes to Lydia.

"You should come over some time and try some of my Mom's cooking." I offer and I see her eyes light up.

"Really? that would be awesome! thanks Alec." Lydia smiles brightly at me.

"Yeah, my Mom would love to have you. She loves to cook and I think she would be happy to find out that I was the one to invite someone over, instead of Isabelle and Jace." I laugh at my own private joke. Lydia chuckles slightly, a small concerned look crossing her face.

"Did you not invite many people over before?" She asks, and I find myself shrinking into the seat I was in. I wasn't expecting the conversation to turn into this, not this soon. Why did I have to open my big mouth.

"Well- I didn't really have many friends back home... or any friends at all, not really." I tell her and suddenly a small gasp comes out from her. She then leans over to grab onto my arm.

"Alec, I- I'm so sorry... but you never have to feel like you don't have friends, not with us." She gently takes my hand. "We all like you, no matter what you are now our friend." She looks over at Catarina and Ragnor. Who have both started to watch us in some way, Catarina through the mirror and Ragnor had just turned in his seat.

"She's right. I don't like many people, but you seem to be okay... anyone who's quieter than Simon is okay in my books." Ragnor agrees with Lydia.

"See, you have Ragnor's approval and that's pretty hard to get. I didn't get it for almost three months." She laughs slightly.

"You also seem to have the stamp of approval from Magnus. I've never seen him so infatuated with someone before." Lydia winks at me. "He wouldn't stop talking about you all through math's class yesterday, almost drove John mad." I freeze slightly. Why does everyone seem to think Magnus cares that much for me? how could he? we've only just met.

"I doubt-" I start but Ragnor cuts me off.

"Jem just answered, he's going to meet us there." He says to Catarina. "He just finished up work just now."

"Oh Alec, you'll love Jem." Lydia tells me. "He's the same age as us but he went to a private school and graduated early so he could come back her and-"

"Lydia, don't just sprout off his entire life story before Alec has even had the chance to meet him." Catarina scolds, making Lydia's mouth snap shut. Just from this short car journey I could see that Catarina was the mother of the group. "But yes, Alec. She's right, I have a feeling you and Jem are going to get on just fine."

There's something about the ways she says that that makes me uneasy.

The restaurant we go too is very warm and cozy. It's all deep reds and candle light. It's not the place that I would usually think about when it came to going for a meal with friends, but it's definitely somewhere I would go if I wanted to go on a date.

I must admit, as soon as we walked through the door, my mouth was watering from the delicious smells surrounding us. That and the sight of the food on the tables of people that had already been served. I'm glad that I came here.

One thing I did notice when we walked in was that there was someone sitting to our far left. Everyone else didn't notice him, but I did because he was gorgeous. Not quite at the same level as Magnus, but he's not someone who should be overlooked.

If I were anyone normal, I would go over there and introduce myself. But as I am me, I couldn't ever do that because the embarrassment would be too much for me to handle. I don't even know if the guy is interested in men, so if I went over there and it turns out he wasn't, well that could be one of the worst things to happen to me.

"See something you like?" A voice says close to my ear. It makes me jump and whirl around to see Catarina, her eyes bright with a knowing glow.

"I- no.. uh..." I can't even get my story straight. I can't handle this sort of situation because I had never been in it before unless it was with my brother or sister. It was fine when it was with them because I know how to handle them, I can deal with whatever they could throw at me.

"Guy's!" My eyes flicker back to the guy when I hear him shout over to us. Oh my god.

This guy was Jem. The guy they all knew and were friends with, and now Catarina just caught me checking out. Of course this would happen to me and only me.

Catarina links an arm through mine and drags me over to the table that Jem is sitting at. "Hey Jem, how have you been you idiot?" She asks before pulling him into a hug. Lydia comes up behind me and gently pushes me until I am sliding into the booth like table, right in front of Jem.

This was almost the exact situation I was in this morning with Magnus. Crap, it's probably best to not think about Magnus right now, not when I am trying to have fun.

"Oh y'know, same as usual I guess...who's this guy. "Jem's eyes settle on me, finally noticing that there was someone new at their table.

"This is Alec, he's new at the school." Lydia answers before sliding in next to me. "We're still trying to get him used to us all," she laughs for a second, "so we invited him here with us."

Jem smiles at me, completely ignoring Ragnor and Catarina now. "Well I'm glad you did. It's nice to meet you Alec... I'm guessing that's short for Alexander?" He asks and I nod once.

"It is, but I prefer Alec." I say with a small smile. The name Alexander reminds me of my father and it brings back bad memories of all the times I spent hiding who I was, in fear of being rejected.

"I like it." Jem smiles and I feel myself blushing. "So you're new here?" He asks, but I can see that he has noticed my blush.

"Y-yeah, well I've been here before, my mom grew up here." I say.

"Really? why have you only just come back now...if you don't mind my asking?"

"Oh, no- I guess it's okay. She just uh- got out of a messy divorce, New York didn't seem appealing after that and we all know that she missed this place." Jem's face turns sad.

"Oh, I'm sorry I asked." He looks apologetic and I find myself unsure of what to say next, but thankfully he swoops in to salvage the conversation. "So, New York? must have been fun living there." He asks.

"Oh, it was... something." I answer.

"What do you mean by that?" He fires back before looking up at someone, I turn my head to the side to see that someone is standing at our table, it's a waitress and she's clearly waiting for us to give her our drink orders. "Sorry, I'll take a coke and my friend here will have a-"

"lemonade please." I smile at the waitress, she smiles back before walking off to get our drinks. I turn back to Jem, who is looking back at me, eyebrow raised and waiting for me to answer his question. "Yes, New York." I start. "It's good for those who like crowds and action, my brother and sister loved it, as did my father. When it came to My younger brother, mother and I, well I think we're better suited here, sure so far not much has gone on but we've not been here that long." I say and Jem nods his head.

"I understand. When I was off out of the country for private school, I was one of the only ones there who preferred to stay in the in school library, my friends would rather run off to the nearest town, it's where they could get into the pubs there, sure they couldn't drink but they were allowed in until a certain time."

"Where did you go to school?" I ask because I couldn't think of a place that would do that. We're not usually allowed into bars at all until we reach a certain age.

"The UK, Scotland to be exact." He answers.

I was surprised, Scotland would be one of the last places I would've guessed he would have went too. "Wow, that's pretty amazing. What was it like, I'm guessing it wasn't exactly what the stereotypes described." I ask and he smiles.

"The first thing I'll say was that it was cold. It's not the best place to go if you want a tan-" he laughs at his own little joke"-but the people there are pretty cool, everyone thinks they're angry and loud- sure they can be loud but I've only ever seen it when it came to the important things, the things they are passionate about." Jem looks so excited to be talking about this, as if he wanted to talk about it before but just never had anyone to do it with.

"Is it as beautiful as I heard it was?" I ask. "I knew someone who visited the capitol and she said that it was very pretty." Jem nods his head almost instantly.

"The old towns, especially the place that I think was the origins of the whole of Edinburgh. It's the street that leads up to their castle, the first mile of Edinburgh, it's all stone and brick that's worn away throughout history, but it works. The colours and patterns that they houses have been built in, god they-" Jem trails off when he sees how I'm looking at him. It's nothing bad, just an amazed smile as I have never seen someone look so passionate about what they are talking about. "I'm sorry for rambling, I just miss my time over there and I'm kind of into that old towny kind of look that you get in some places, places that can tell a story just by looking at them." Jem blushes and ducks his head. The blush on his face sends a flutter of butterflies throughout my stomach.

It wasn't something I had felt much of before.

"It's okay, I enjoy hearing about it... I haven't travelled much and the way you described it-" I cut myself off when Jem looks up at me. I'm suddenly taken aback by this man. Sure he's not like Mag- no, he's not like him but he's still a person that I don't deserve, but I can't help wishing I had.

Jem looks me over. "You are something else Alec." He almost whispers then he seems to remember that we weren't alone. He straightens up slightly and stops whispering. "We should hang out again sometime." He asks and I could see that there was a double meaning to his words.

"Yeah... I would like that."


	9. Chapter Nine

 

**Chapter Nine:**

_"There is no way."- AL_

_**"I assure you that it is very much true, Alec... it wounds me that you don't believe me."- JC** _

_"You'll get over it, unlike me, I will never get over that you have been alive for almost eighteen years and you have never ever tried a cheese burger!"- AL_

**_"Hey, I grew up in a vegetarian household, sue me... I guess this means that we're just going to have to spend more time together, I mean someone needs to introduce me to the art of cheese burgers."- JC_ **

_"If that's what it takes, how about we meet after I'm done with school?"- AL_

_**"A whole seven hours! I don't know if I can wait that long Alec... how about I meet you for lunch?"- JC-** _

_"You're so dramatic Jem!... but I would love too."- AL_

_**"Meet you at the entrance then?"-JC** _

_"Can't wait."- AL_

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I never spoke to anyone throughout the entire car ride to school. I was too busy talking to Jem as I had been ever since Tuesday. It had only been two days but I don't think I had ever spoken to someone outside of our family for that long.

It was nice, I'm really enjoying talking to Jem, he's wonderful and he actually pays attention to me. I think that we could really become something together, I can't wait to see how this possible lunch date goes today. If it goes well then I'm going to tell Jace and Isabelle about him tonight. Isabelle is going to be really excited, this is the first time that I've had a boyfriend, so it'a going to be big news.

"Hey, what's got you so quiet?" Isabelle elbows me in the ribs. I knew she had been watching me this whole time and I know that it's probably because I was making a scene of smiling down at my phone whenever it buzzed in my hands. "Who are you talking to? is it Magnus?" She shares a look with Jace through the car mirror.

"Nope." I should probably derail those thoughts from their heads before they begin to think that I really have some sort of feelings for Magnus...which I don't... obviously.

I shake those thoughts from my head before I could start thinking too fully about my feelings for Magnus. It's clear that he wants Will, so I'm going to focus on what I have with Jem.

"Who is it then?" She asks, trying to lean over and look at my phone but I lock it before she could see. "Alec?"

"All in due time little sister." I smirk then I turn to look out of the window as we pull into the school parking lot.

"Alright, someone needs to be home for Max after school...Alec?" Mom asks as she pulls the car to a stop.

I sigh because I know I'll be the only one able to do it. Isabelle and Jace will no doubt have some place to be after school, perhaps I can invite someone over to keep me company with Max.

"I'll be home." I answer, my phone buzzes in my hand. I look down to see if it's Jem, but to my surprise it's Magnus. "I gotta go, love you Mom." I say before getting out of the car. The text Magnus had sent me was him requesting to meet me at the school entrance. Even though it could make my life more complicated than it needs to be, but I'm not going to stop being friends with Magnus even though I might possibly have something with Jem. Magnus was one of the first proper friends I have made here so I wasn't going to be that person who ditches them straight away.

Plus I really like Magnus and we get along so well that it's hard to think that we haven't been friends for a long time. The past two days have shown that as during breaks and free periods that he wasn't with Will, we hung out and spent more time with each other. He also came back to the house yesterday to watch more Netflix with me. We had moved onto the second season of the walking dead now.

Magnus was there waiting for me as I approached the school. He looked slightly unwell and upset, so I was worried almost straight away. The lack of flair he had to his clothes and makeup today were also a red flag. I had yet to see him look so plain.

"Mags?" I call over to him once I get close enough. "Are you okay-" I hardly even get the question out before Magnus has thrown himself at me, his arms around my waist and his head hidden in my chest. "Magnus, hey? what's wrong?" I ask and without even a second thought I have wrapped my arms around his shoulders, one hand stroking the back of his head.

"Why do I always fall for the wrong ones, Alexander?" He asks as he nestles his face more into my shoulder. His voice sounds thick with tears but I can see that he is refusing to let them fall. I knew he was too stubborn to do that in public.

"Hey? what's going on here?" Jace's voice sounds from not far beside us.

"Are you okay Magnus?" Isabelle asks but Magnus ignores her and hides his face further into my jumper. I send her a small apologetic smile on his behalf before mouthing the name Will to her. I then place my hand more fully on his head, I could hear him whimper at the contact.

"Maybe he should go home for the day? if he isn't feeling up to this today." Jace suggests.

"I don't want to be alone." Magnus whispers, I don't think I would've heard him unless I was pressed this close to him.

"It's okay, I won't leave you alone." I say privately to him, I then look back at Isabelle. "Can you cover for me today?" I ask before motioning with my head at the school.

"Are you kidding?" She asks, her eyes popping open wide. "Of course I will! how many times have you done it for me? god I never thought I would see the day that my brother would find someone worth breaking the rules for." Isabelle comes over to kiss my cheek. "don't worry, I'll be home to watch over Max. Simon and Clary are coming over after school anyways... have fun!" She tosses her hair over her shoulder before taking Jace's arm and walking off.

I hold Magnus close to me as I think over what Isabelle said to me. Was Magnus worth breaking the rules over? should I be acting this way when I know that I have feelings for someone else? but are those feelings bigger than what I feel for Magnus. It's hard to tell, I've only known the both of them for a couple of days.

"Can we go?" I look down to see Magnus looking back up at me. Brown eyes wide and slightly teary and I find that all I want to do in that moment is kiss him, but I can't.

Magnus is too good for me and he probably has hundreds of better people to date. Jem is also too good for me, but he has shown interested in wanting to date me, Magnus had not so I'm not going to ruin what I had here with him, just because I felt for him.

That doesn't mean I won't protect him and care for him when he is at his most vulnerable.

"Of course, let's go Mags, I'll take care of you." I say before coaxing him into a walk, refusing to remove my arm from his shoulder.

Isabelle was right. Even though Magnus wasn't mine, he was still worth breaking the rules over.

Even if that means I have to lie to Jem about our date. It would be worth it, as long as I knew Magnus was okay.

That's what is important.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten:**

I took Magnus back to my house as we knew his mother would be home as that's where she works from. She would ask too many questions as to why we are there instead of school. I knew our house would be empty so it would be a better place for me to try and comfort him in.

I mean I don't know how much I could do for him as I am not the best when it comes to anything emotional. I mean I have some experience when it comes to consoling Isabelle when one of the douchebag's she dated, dumped her or cheated on her. But I'm not sure how I can help the boy I sorta like with his relationship drama. It's the sort of thing you would only see in one of the bad TV shows Isabelle and Max watch.

"Thank you for doing this Alexander, I wish you didn't though. I don't want to be the person who caused you to miss school." Magnus says as he takes a seat on my bed. He is shivering slightly and I could tell he is still fighting off the tears that are building in his eyes.

God I just wished he would cry, I knew that is one way to make someone feel better and I hate that he is just keeping this all bottled up inside him. It's not going to do him any good to try and hold it all in. "You know you don't need to hide in front of me." I say without really thinking it through.

Magnus stares at me with wide eyes. "What?" He asks and I'm suddenly afraid that I have messed this up and somehow hurt him even more before I could even try to give him some sort of comfort.

"I mean- sorry was I too forward?" I panic slightly. "I was just saying that I know something is wrong and that you don't have to hide yourself from me, I won't judge if you want too- also it's not good to keep things bottled up, you're just going to make yourself feel worse and that's not what I want from you, and I-"

"Alexander!" Magnus actually smiles slightly. "You don't have to explain yourself to me, I understand. I'm just not used to someone being okay with me being so open, I've never had someone that I was close enough with to do that and who understood....so thank you." Magnus comes up and gives me a brief hug. I stand there feeling relieved, thank god I didn't ruin things.

"You don't need to thank me, Magnus. It's just common decency, especially when you know someone is hurting." I return the hug Magnus was giving me.

"You and I both know that Alexander, but some people seem to lack that knowledge." He sighs. "And truth be told, Alexander. I would be crying my eyes out right now, but I have my contacts in and I find it irritating when I cry, and I doubt the last thing you would want to see me in is my glasses" Magnus admits, why the hell would he put my opinion over his comfort?

"I want to see you comfortable, that's what. If that means your glasses then you should wear them, I don't care if you needed to wear a chicken costume to feel comfortable. My opinions don't mean squat when it comes to your comfort." I say before gently moving him over to the bed.

Magnus doesn't say anything, he just stares at me, his eyes wide and mouth open like he was trying to actually speak.

"Do you want me to get a mirror from Isabelle's room or would you rather the bathroom?" I ask, kneeling down in front of him. "And can I get you anything to drink or eat?"

"I uh- bathroom and a tea, I guess... if you have it." He looks stunned and I can't help but feeling some sort of pride that I made him look like that. I never knew I could have that effect on someone.

"Of course, my mother get's stressed in her line of work, so I know when she's had too much coffee. Tea always calms her down and when she's stressed enough she'd hardly notice that what I gave her was not her usual coffee." I tell him and it makes him smile again. I want to make him smile more and if telling crappy jokes and stories about my family helps me do that, then I will talk until I had no voice left to talk with. "The bathroom is right through that door, I got the on suite as I am the oldest. I will go down and make your tea... English tea okay?" I ask him as I motion towards the bathroom.

"Yes, milk and two sugars please." Magnus politely asks. "And... thank you again, Alexander. I don't know many people who would do this for me." Magnus gets up and pats my arm as he passes me on his way to the bathroom.

I smile as I watch him walk away. Maybe if I can't be with Magnus, I'll still know that I'll still have him as a friend as I will be the one that is there for him.

Even if that's just me being there when he is sad. Watching crappy TV whilst he cries all the bad thoughts and feelings out.

Sure it's not how I want him, but I'll take what I can get.

It doesn't matter anyway because I have Jem and I think something great can happen with us. I just need to get over whatever I am feeling with Magnus. We can still be friends but I just need to be careful not to mess up my feelings with each of them.

I don't need my life to be more complicated than it kinda already was. These feelings do not need to get any worse than what they were.

All that aside, I just need to work on separating my feelings.

I can start that tomorrow because Magnus needs me today. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

 

**Chapter Eleven:**

To my surprise, after we had settled down with a hot drink, Magnus didn't cry. In fact for the whole of the episode of the walking dead that we watched, he seemed to be somewhere else completely. He was so distracted, I worried that I might need to make him a fresh cup of tea as after the first couple of sips he seemed to forget that he had it.

As soon as the episode finished, I knew that I should talk to him. I didn't like how quiet he was, especially after how I found him this morning. When that time came, I turned the TV off, making him startle in surprise, almost spilling tea all over the bed with his jerked movements.

"What are you doing?" He asks but I don't answer as I sit up to take his cup from him. I don't want to risk him spilling it on either of us or the bed. It seems like a possibility with the way he was so out of it.

"We are going to talk because I don't like seeing you like this." I say to him before pushing myself up and sitting in a crossed legged position. "This is not the Magnus I have gotten to know over this past week, I miss my Magnus...give him back to me." I say playfully, reaching out to grab his hand, then pulling him up to sit across from me. "Where have you hidden him?" I ask softly when he is right in front of me.

He looks up from where he was staring at the bed. His eyes meet mine and I am met with something that I wasn't expecting. The most gorgeous pair of golden green eyes. It was a colour I had never seen before and I swear that if I didn't know Magnus had removed his contacts, I would've believed these golden orbs to be fake.

They are amazing and so totally Magnus. I was right to think that brown was just to plain for him. I knew something wasn't right about that, that Magnus deserved something as beautiful as his eyes.

"Wow." I say, without thinking about it.

It seems to be the wrong thing to say because a moment later, Magnus had flickered his eyes away from mine until they are looking at the bed again.

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have taken them out... I just thought-" Magnus starts to get off of the bed.

"They're amazing." I say, then without giving it a second thought, I raise my hand to rest on his cheek, bringing his head up so I could once again get a good look at them. "I have never seen that colour in someone's eyes before, it's- beautiful," I sigh softly before meeting his eyes again. "I didn't know gold and green could fit so well together."

"Alexander-" Magnus's voice is nothing more than a breath. I realize then how close our faces had gotten and if it wasn't careful, I could mess up our friendship.

"I'm sorry, I was jus- I've never seen that eye colour before." I say before pulling back. To try and get my mind off of what just happened I try to think of Jem and how I am going to explain to him that I couldn't make our date today. I knew I would have to lie because telling him that I skipped our date to spend the day with another man that I might have feelings for... well, it's just not going to go very well.

"It's okay, I get it a lot...but never you're reaction." Magnus also leans back, resting against the wall beside the bed it's self. "But it was a nice change, and thank you for noticing that I was not myself, that's not something that happens often either." He smiles at me.

"Will you tell me what's going on... I might be able to help you?" I ask him and I could see that Magnus thinks it over for a moment. "You don't have too, it might just be better than you sitting there all upset. I would hate to see you like that when there could possibly be something I could do to help you." I lean over to grab a pillow, offering it to him so he wouldn't become uncomfortable leaning against the wall.

"Thank you- and yes, I think it will help for me to have someone to talk too." Magnus shuffles the pillow behind him. He then takes a deep breath, as if trying to steady himself, before talking. "Will broke things off with me. He's been seeing someone else in the same manner that we had been seeing each other." He looks down at the bed again.

"Did you know?"

Magnus shook his head, and I swear I see the first tear finally fall. "Not at all, I thought- I thought that near the end we were d-doing okay but-" Magnus wipes a hand across his cheek. "He told me last night. I went over to his like he asked, and when I got there he was so rude- I felt like a common street whore... he told me that he decided that out of the two of them, he preferred the other man better than I... not that I blame him." Magnus whispers that last part as if he wished I wouldn't hear.

But I did hear him.

"Hey! none of that. You are too good for him Magnus Bane and don't you think otherwise." I say before leaning over to take his hand. "I don't want you poisoning your head with those thoughts, I won't have it and neither will anyone else." Magnus doesn't look up at me. I know he was just waiting for me to finish before he carried on with his story. I decided to keep quiet until he was done.

"I don't think that's true. Will said something about his new boy-" he stops to take a shuddery breath-"boyfriend." He suddenly looks mad. "He said that his boyfriend wasn't ready to out their relationship for some reason, I don't know why, but Will's boyfriend is dating someone else and I- I can't even warn the poor boy about this whole thing because I don't know who they are!" Magnus suddenly leans forward to press his face into my shoulder.

I feel sick to the stomach that someone could cause that much pain. "Oh, Magnus." I wrap my arms around him. "This is not your fault." I tell him.

"It's my fault that this guy is going to get his heart broken!" Magnus sobs into my shoulder, clinging onto me tightly. "I don't even know where to begin if I decided to try and find him. I tried all last night and there was no clue to tell me who these two people are, I can't even find out who Will's boyfriend is." Magnus pulls back to look at me. "Will you help me? Alexander?" Magnus looks so vulnerable right now that it almost breaks my heart.

"Of course I will." I answer without hesitation.

Magnus smiles and he is about to answer when my phone chimes and cuts him off.

He looks at my phone, which is resting on the bedside table and suddenly a wicked grin grows on his red and tear stained face. Before I could even realize, Magnus has thrown himself over my lap, grabbing my phone from the table and reading off the text I had received.

_"Heard you didn't show at school today, still up for our lunch date? you promised me cheeseburgers, Lightwood! -Jem x"_

Once Magnus stopped reading, the room went quiet.

I couldn't see Magnus face and boy I wish I could.

"Date?" He asks suddenly, sounding a little sad.

"Uh- yeah... Cat and Ragnor introduced me to their friend Jem a couple of days ago and we decided to go out on a date." I say, reaching over to take the phone. "But I can totally reschedule... if you need me." I say, bringing up the message and getting ready to write in some excuse.

Magnus sits back up, a controlled look on his face. The tears were gone and there was a blank look in his eyes. "Nonsense. I'm not going to stop you from going on a date just because my love life sucks." Magnus pushes himself off of the bed. "You should go... I'll just go home and tell my mother that I am ill." Magnus reaches for his shoes, which had been kicked off at the side of the bed.

"Wait-" I reach out to touch Magnus's arm. "Can you help me?" I ask before nodding my head towards my closet. "I've never been on a date before and I- don't know what to wear..." I trail off as I think of a way to make what I said sound a little less desperate.

Magnus is frozen. His eyes on the floor as his mind works a mile a minute, thinking of something. Probably trying to think of a way to reject me fore being so pathetic-

"Of course, I'll help you...that's what best friend's are for." Magnus let's go of his shoes so he could make his way over to my closet.

I notice that there is almost a sad look on his face, but I think now's not the time to dwell on that. Right now I have to focus on my upcoming date.

Speaking of which, I should answer Jem.

_**"Absolutely on! Just had to comfort a friend for a while (relationship drama) but it's all good for now, and I can't wait to see you, you burger virgin- Alec x"** _

I smile as I receive an answer almost straight away.

_"Surprisingly not the worst nickname I've had. I can't wait to see you too Alec, I'll see you at lunch- Jem xx"_

_**"See you then- Alec xxx"** _

I smile at my phone before looking up at Magnus to see what he has come up for me to wear.

I realize then, that this could be okay. I have Jem, who makes me happy and actually seems to be into me. And then I had Magnus, my best friend, and I know my romantic feelings for him will probably go away soon.

All was well.

For myself anyway. But not for Magnus, but we're not supposed to know about that yet.


	12. Chapter Twelve

 

**Chapter Twelve:**

Magnus really does know what to do when it comes to fashion. Even when it comes to the limited supply of nice clothes that I own. He still managed to make me look good, but still casual enough for my date with Jem. He was deep in thought when he was picking my clothes and I wondered if that was just his thing, like he got so deep in concentration when he was dealing with clothes.

I know Isabelle can get like that sometimes and I can get like that when it comes to my photography. Then again photography is very complex and requires a lot of attention to detail to get exactly what you are wanting.

I think it's nice that Magnus has something that he loves so much that it can literally take him to another place.

After Magnus had chosen something for me to wear, I made us both something to eat and we watched the next two walking dead episodes together. After that, Magnus decided he was going to go home so that I could get myself ready to meet Jem, which wasn't that long after Magnus had left.

In fact I was on my way to meet him now. I decided just to walk back to the school to meet him as I didn't want to inconvenience him by changing the meeting place.

I wish I had though because I didn't factor in the thought that it would be lunch and that Jem had friends here, friends that were also my siblings friends. I really should've expected him to be talking to them whilst he waited on me to arrive. Isabelle was there with them, god I really didn't want to get into this now, not after the nice day I just had with Magnus.

I just need to distract her until I get home from the date. I know she will have a thousand questions for me, and so will Jace, probably. In fact I'm pretty sure the whole house is going to know by the end of the day and there was probably nothing I could do to stop it. Getting Isabelle to promise not to say anything will probably only work for a while because with something like this, she is probably going to have a hard time keeping it a secret.

Not that I doubt that she can keep my secrets, she did manage to hide my being gay secret for a long time, so I know she can keep secrets.

But I also remember the first time Jace came home with a date that was his own age, Isabelle almost cried before telling the whole house about it. She did hide the fact that Jace had had many dates before with older women, she knew that would only end in trouble for Jace so she kept her mouth shut.

It did make Mom happy though, which was a plus.

Speaking of Isabelle, she was the first one to spot me as I made my way close to the school. She cocked her head to the side as if making sure it was really me before pushing past Ragnor and walking over to me.

"What are you doing back here? Where is Magnus?" She asks, leaning around me to see if she could see Magnus anywhere, but only being met with several other students we didn't know. Once she has had a look around she steps back to look at me properly. "Alec? "

I glance behind her to see Catarina has a hand on Jem's arm, to stop him from coming over for a moment. She could clearly tell I wanted to talk to my sister alone. I sent her a thankful smile quickly before smiling at Jem, to let him know that everything was okay.

"Okay." I say, once again looking back down at Isabelle. She is now standing with one hip jutted to the side and her arms crossed, waiting for me to explain myself. "If I tell you then you have to promise me you won't freak out..." I say, pausing for a moment to get her answer.

"Done. Now tell me what's going on and why you seem to have just left Magnus." She orders in her no nonsense tone.

At least I got her word. "Magnus went home because he didn't want to me to miss my date." I say quickly.

Isabelle's arms drop from her chest. Her eyes widen and the biggest possible smile graces her face. "Oh. My. God." She whips her head around to look at Jem, who was laughing at something Ragnor had said. "Jem? You are going on a date with that guy over there? my god Alec, you know how to pick them!" She throws her arms around my waist and pulls me into a tight hug.

"Iz!" I hiss at her, we were starting to gain the attention of the people around us. "Remember what you promised, do not make a big deal out of this." I plead her, as quietly as I could.

"Oh! right, I'm sorry Alec I'm just so- there aren't words to describe how happy I am for you right now." Isabelle backs off but keeps her hands on my forearms. "And don't worry, I won't tell anyone until you are ready, not even Jace." She promises, and I find myself surprised because she and Jace tell each other everything. They have that type of relationship as they are both so similar, so for her to promise not to tell him, it really means a lot to me.

I know I will tell him eventually because he is my brother and will always be my best-friend. I won't be able to keep this a secret from him, especially if anything comes from this date, I would want him to be one of the firsts to know.

"Thank you Isabelle, that means a lot to me... but I do want to ask a favour of you." The thought of Magnus suddenly came to mind, I didn't want him to be alone tonight, especially after what happened between him and Will.

"Anything big bro." Isabelle loops her arm around mine before pulling us into a slow walk back to the others.

I try to match her pace, but with long legs like mine, it is a little difficult. "Magnus is going through something, so do you think you could invite him around again, like what you did before... I remember you saying you were having people over after school so-"

"Of course I will invite him, he can help me with your wardrobe." She says with a sly grin on her face. Nothing about her face tells me that this is going to be something I will enjoy, and I'm probably going to get my privacy violated.

"What are you-" I start to ask but Isabelle just smiles even more.

"You starting to actually date someone gives me an excuse to buy you better clothes and get rid of the ones that will do good anymore. This is going to be so fun and you are not getting a say in this." She adds in that last part when she sees my mouth open to complain.

I guess it wouldn't be too bad, I mean Jem does look amazing with what he wears so it's probably best for me to quit wearing my holy sweaters, I doubt that will impress him.   
  
"Fine, but don't throw out any of my comfy clothes or anything that holds a memory." I say to her just as we arrive next to the others.

"I wouldn't dream of it brother dearest." Isabelle jumps up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. "Now off you go and have fun for once." She pushes me towards Jem who puts an arm out to stop me from tumbling over. She may be small but Isabelle sure is strong, only a fool would try her.

"Easy, Izzy." I say to her once I got my balance back. I note that Jem doesn't move his arm from my waist, even after I regained my footing, it felt nice so I wasn't going to complain.

"I'm not sorry." She states then smirks at the way Jem was holding me. She is going to be insufferable throughout this, I just hope Jace is better.

I sigh before turning away from her to face Jem, who smiles when he sees my attention is no longer on my sister. I feel suddenly bad that I paid more attention to her when we were supposed to go on a date.

"Hi." I say with a small smile, my cheeks heating up. "Sorry about her, she's a little-" I start but I couldn't quite think of an end to what I wanted to say.

Jem just smiled in understanding. "Hi yourself, and don't worry my friend Tessa was the same when I told her, but I think she was just more surprised about what we decided to do, not even she can make me eat burgers." He says and I notice that when you say it out loud, going for burgers doesn't sound like the most romantic idea for a first date.

"I guess I must be special then." I joke, my cheeks blazing even more than before. I wasn't aware of how flirty that sounded until I said it. I wanted to hit myself on the forehead for even thinking about the cheesy line, surely that's a one way ticket to make me seem weird.

Surprisingly though, Jem smiled. "I think you are." He whispers, low enough for only me to hear. I blush harder than before, then I flick my eyes to the side to see our friends just watching us, well all of them bar Isabelle.

She had decided to take pictures of us.

"Isabelle!" I snap once I caught her doing it. Jem turns to look at her too, a blush decorates his cheeks too when he sees what she is doing. "What are you-"

"Oh shut up and let me enjoy this, Alec." Isabelle just smirks. "You need a photo to capture this, and you will thank me later." She states before tapping her phone a couple of times. She must have sent the picture to me because a second later I feel my phone buzz in my back pocket.

"Should we go?" Jem asks me, sensing that I was getting a little embarrassed by Isabelle and her behaviour.

"Yes please." I say to him, thankful that he had came to my rescue.

Jem runs his hand down my arm to gently link his hand with mine. "Well, it was nice to see you guys and it was lovely to meet you Isabelle, but I believe we have plans." Jem smiles politely at Isabelle before reaching over to lift her hand to his mouth, kissing the back of it.

Isabelle blushes at this but doesn't complain. I can tell that Jem already has her stamp of approval, which is good for me I guess.

"See ya, Jem." Ragnor drawls before pulling Catarina back into the school, giving Cat just enough time to wave him goodbye before the doors shut in front of her face.

"Have fun, I'll see you at home later." Isabelle kisses my cheek one last time before sauntering off into the school, leaving Jem and I alone for the first time ever.

Jem pulls me into a slight walk, never letting go of my hand as he does so. "I like your sister, she's a little crazy... not in a bad way though!" He's quick to defend himself when he hears how bad that could sound.

"Don't worry, I've heard worse about her and I know you didn't mean it in a bad way... plus I totally agree with you." I say and it makes him laugh. "She's amazing though, past all of her eager protectiveness, she's one of the best people I know." I tell him, almost proudly. Then again, I'm really proud to have Isabelle as my sister, I mean who wouldn't.

"I'm guessing you're really close with each other?" Jem asks as we make our way towards one of the paths that cross through the woods, heading towards the meadow.

"Yeah, it was just the two of us until my parents had my little brother Max when I was nine. Then a year later they adopted my brother Jace." I tell him. "Well Jace is more like my best friend, we've been close ever since he arrived at our home in New York." I smile fondly as I think of Jace.

"It's nice that you have that. I only have my friends Tessa and Will. We've been close ever since my parents tried to help Will's family find his missing cousin." Jem looks sad at that story.

"Oh, did they ever find him?" I ask even though I know the answer, guessing my the look on Jem's face, they never found his cousin.

"No. They had no idea where to look, they think that he escaped the hospital and left the country before anyone could stop him. Whoever took him must have had people working for him in that hospital because their seemed to be a brown out with the camera's so no one could see who took the child." My mouth drops open.

"What do you mean hospital?" I ask, wondering if this sick person stole a sick or injured child from his hospital bed.

"He was a new born, stolen from his mother only hours after his birth and they haven't seen him since." Jem tells me and I hear a gasp fall from my mouth. This is something you would only hear in a book or a movie, I've never heard something like this happening in real life.

"Oh my god, that's horrible. I feel terrible for that kids parents." I say, I honestly couldn't think of what it would feel like to be in his parents place. I saw what a mother could be like when threatened to lose her children. I was there when Dad tried to get custody of Jace, Isabelle and Max. Not me though, he never wanted to see me again.

I remember seeing what state my mother was in and I don't think I could imagine what it would be like for her to lose one of us only hours after being born. She at least got to know her children, she got to hold and comfort us and those parent's only got to do it for a couple of hours.

"Yeah, they still miss him but they were forced to die down the search a little when it got to six months after his disappearance. I know they still have people out there, looking for him even though it's been eighteen years since he went missing." Jem seems to be very interested in this topic, judging by the look on his face.

"How could they still be searching for him? he would look totally different now." I ask. Surely it would be hard to try and track someone down that you haven't seen since their birth.

"According to Will, his cousin had one thing that made him stand out and that was his eyes. One was blue and the other was half blue and half brown. I guess it's uncommon enough to give them something useful to look for." Jem says wistfully as he doges a large branch that covers half of the path. He pushes his shoulder into mine so he is able to get past it without letting go of my hand.

I don't really listen to what he says after that because I can't help but think of Jace. He has the exact same eyes as the ones Jem just described, but it didn't make any sense because we had all met Jace's father before. There could be no mistake that that was Jace's dad, they both looked exactly the same, they even acted in the same way.

I decide not to bring it up to Jem just yet because I wouldn't want to start something without having solid proof. I wouldn't Jem going back to his friends family and telling them that someone with their lost son's eyes is back in town, only for nothing to come of it. I wouldn't want to cause this family any more hurt than they have already suffered when they lost their baby.

"That's sad." I say before deciding to change the sad subject. " So, where are we heading?" I ask before taking a look around the trees around us. Where the hell were we actually going? I hadn't noticed until now that we were super deep into the woods. "The town is the other way isn't it? there is only one burger place near here." I say to him, this only makes him smile before he is pulling me down another path that actually leads us into the forest.

"Well, I decided that since this is our first date, no any old burger place would be enough. I had the whole day to wait for you so I decided to do this as a surprise." Jem tells me before we break through a cluster of bushes and trees.

I am surprised at first until I see that there is a beautiful homemade treehouse. The tree that the house was built on was the only one there in the middle of a large clearing. There was long grass and beautiful wildflowers dotted around the place with only a little clearing in the middle that held an already lit fireplace.

"I thought for my first experience, we should do it properly by making our own burgers?" Jem suggest then holds up a bag I didn't notice him carrying. "I also brought marshmallows, because no campfire is complete without them." he pulls me towards the fire, the hear coming off it and making me shiver in the afternoon air.

He stops when we are next to the fire, the heat coming off of it and licking at my exposed forearms. He finally lets go of my hand before walking to stand in front of me.

"Is this okay, Alec?" He asks, looking down at me. It wasn't until just now that I noticed that he was taller than me, which was surprising considering that I was 6'3.

"This-" I try but I simply cannot find the words to describe how amazing this was. So instead I raise myself up slightly until I am able to kiss his cheek. "It's amazing, Jem... it's more than perfect." I say to him, right next to his ear.

Jem looks surprised when I pull back, but then he smiles brightly, his eyes alight.

"Thank you, now Alexander-"

"No." I say suddenly, putting my hands onto his chest. "Please don't call me that- only my dad called me that and we didn't and still don't have the best relationship." I tell him, pleading with him to believe me.

Secretly I didn't care that my father called me that, I just knew that it was my thing with Magnus and I didn't want someone else doing it.

"Noted. No more of that." Jem kisses my cheek this time. "Well then Alec, I think it's time that you follow up on your promise." Jem holds up the bag again.

We link hands again before walking to the side of the fire. "I would love too." I say before taking a seat next to him beside the fire.

It's hot, a little too hot but it doesn't stop Jem and I from pressing next to each others side, as if we were trying to take each other's body heat.

I don't know why I thought I wouldn't come here today.

This was shaping up to be one of the best days ever. And it's most likely the best first date I could of possibly had.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

 

**Chapter Thirteen:**

  
If I were anywhere else, I think I would have fallen asleep already.

The warmth from the fire and the feel of Jem pressed against me was enough to almost lull me into one of the best sleeps ever. But the constant reminder that I was outside, lying on a blanket that Jem had found in the old treehouse, was the only thing that actually kept me from falling asleep. That and the fact that I knew I would have to leave soon.

I didn't want to go home because I knew I would have to deal with Isabelle. Hopefully she will keep her mouth shut whilst all our friends are over but I doubt she will, everyone will probably know as they saw us today before we left for said date.

"You're thinking too loudly." Jem comments then turns his head to look at me. "Is everything okay?" He asks, sounding concerned.

I turn to look back at him, a reassuring smile on my face. "Everything is fine, I'm just thinking about how that this will be over soon and I'll have to face Isabelle." I say and it makes him laugh slightly.

"What are you going to tell her?" Jem asks, teasing smirk on his face.

"That it's none of her business, she doesn't need to know how perfect this was." I say to him before realising what was happening right now.

He was moving closer to me, in a way that I wasn't entirely comfortable with. I don't know if I'm ready for him to kiss me, something just seems not right about that.

I didn't know how to tell him that though without hurting his feelings or once again making myself sound stupid. This would be my first kiss, and I should be happy with it because I'm with someone I like and we're on an amazing date, full of all the romance and cheesy clichés anyone could ask for when it came to their first date. So it makes no sense that this would be such a problem for me, it really shouldn't because Jem is a really nice guy.

But there is just some voice in the back of my head saying that this isn't the right time, or the right person. I don't know who I want the right person to be, but for some reason it's just not Jem, and there's no way I could tell him that. I couldn't avoid not kissing him forever, especially if we go on more dates.

"Perfect was it?" Jem asks, leaning ever closer into my personal space, leaving me pretty uncomfortable.

"I- uh..." I sit bolt upright when my phone starts to buzz in my pocket. Someone was calling me, than the angel!

More like thank Jace.

I ignore the disappointed sigh that comes from Jem as I move further away from him, to get some privacy from him so I could talk to Jace.

"Jace? what is it?"

"What's wrong, I don't know why but I had a feeling something was wrong... are you okay? Isabelle said you were out with someone. Took me by surprise when Magnus showed up at the house, I just thought that the person you were with would be him."

"Jace... he's called Jem and I'm fine... sort of, I don't know what it is but I'll be home soon so I will tell you then."

"Are you leaving now? Do you need me to stay on the phone, or Mom came home for a while after work before going out again but this time she left her car. I can pick you up?" he asks and it honestly sounds like the best idea ever because the more time I spend alone with Jem, the more time he has to try and kiss me again.

Until I figure out what is going on here, I don't want Jem to kiss me because it might just be all wrong. I don't want my first kiss to be with someone that I'm not sure about yet.

"Yeah, I would like that. I'm at the west entrance to the meadow, the pathway there."

"I'll leave now, see you soon bro."

Jace hangs up and I am left to face Jem. He knows something is not right, the moment he looks at me.

"What's wrong?" He asks, sitting up to move closer to me. He's just close enough for me to not feel too uncomfortable yet, but there is still time for him to move closer if he wanted too.

I look down at the phone in my hands before shoving it into my pocket. "It's uh- my brother, Max. He's not feeling very well so Jace and Isabelle need my help, I need to go." I say before standing up, looking for my things that I only just remembered I hadn't brought with me.

"Do you-" Jem goes to stand.

"Jace is on his way to pick me up, I need to go... thank you for all of this though, I had a great time." I say to him before he could finish what he was going to ask me. I was worried as to what it would be. Jem looks a little put out by my sudden rush to leave. "Really, this was great, we should-" I stop because I'm not too sure what I should ask next. "Are you busy tomorrow?" I ask, without truly thinking about it.

"I have work until 7, why?" He asks, looking a little happier now that I have asked him out again. I don't know why I chose such a close date because now I have even less time to figure out what was going on with me.

"Well, my best-friend Magnus is having a couple of people around to his cabin this weekend, the first night is going to be a party... if you are interested in going?" It was the perfect idea, it wouldn't leave us in that kind of situation for romantic first kisses. That and there would be too many people for me to hang out with so I wouldn't be left alone with him. Perhaps I can talk to Isabelle and Jace, they could help me with all of this.

"I would love too, when should I be there?" He asks, finally standing up to come over to me, he takes hold of both of my hands. It was a nice gesture and I know I should've liked it more than I did, but there was just something in the bottom of my stomach that made me feel weird about the whole thing. I don't understand why because it felt nice when he held my hand on the way here. The close proximity seems to have made a change and now I am on high alert.

"Well, we're all going at 12, leaving straight from school, but if you have to work it's just best if you make your way straight from there?" I suggest. It's good that I have that time alone with my friends to sort out what's going on in my head. I just need my brother and sister... and perhaps Magnus.

"I'll be there." He states with a small smile.

Then I notice his eyes fall from mine and down to my lips and no, I can't deal with this-

Jace truly is my saviour.

My phone rings loudly in my pocket again. "I have to go." I say before pulling back. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" I call over my shoulder as I just leave him standing there in the middle of the clearing. He looks torn between excitement and put down by my sudden departure.

"Sure." He calls back once then smiles at me. He then turns to begin the process of putting out the fire.

I don't stick around to watch him do that. I take off back through the woods, walking at a fast pace as I just want to get home now, hopefully Magnus is still there, but then again it's only 5pm.

When I break out back into the street I see that Magnus will in fact still be at my house, considering he has turned up here with Jace to come and collect me. He looks worried and a little stressed, Jace looks like he is getting fed up with Magnus.

"Hey." I say once I get close enough to them.

Magnus whirls around and is quick to sigh in relief. "Alexander, are you okay?" He asks, moving to stand in front of me, hands coming to rest on my forearms. His touch sends tingles through my body and seems to erase any feelings of doubt I had before, I no longer remembered why I felt any doubt about anything.

"I'm fine, I just want to go home." I say to him, thankful that he decided to come along with Jace because I already felt so much better with him just being around me.

"I don't believe you. Jace said that you were in quite the hurry to leave, did something happen on your date? do I have to kill someone for hurting you?" He asks, face completely serious as if he would actually kill someone for hurting me. Perhaps he would, I don't know, Magnus can be really passionate about people and I would be lucky to be one of those people he cared about.

"No, Magnus, don't worry about it. The date was fine, amazing even... but-"

Magnus pulls me into a quick hug, he seems to have sensed that this was not something I wanted to talk about in front of Jace. "Don't worry, we'll talk later." He whispers only to me before pulling back. "Don't worry, Alexander darling, we- hello?" Magnus is suddenly looking behind me.

I turn to see that Jem has made his way out of the forest too, he is looking at Magnus and I, not at our faces but at the way we are standing. Both of us are still slightly holding onto each other from the hug. Jem looks slightly angry.

Oh god he must think that Magnus and I are- "So. You are dating someone else? is that why you had to leave to "help look after your sick brother?" oh so suddenly?" Oh god, he is super pissed. "You could've just told me that, you know?" Jem glares at Magnus. "I didn't know you went for his type."

Okay, now I'm mad. He had no right to insult Magnus like that.

"His type?" Jace asks, finally stepping forward.

"Sloppy seconds, I know all about his thing with Will and I don't know why you would give someone that desperate the time of-"

"Enough, Jem!" I yell before pushing Magnus behind me slightly. "This is not who you were ten minutes ago. Magnus and I are not together, and you need to control yourself better. I can't believe you would say that, especially to Magnus, when you know nothing about how amazing he truly is." I shake my head.

How could someone change so dramatically in the span of a couple of minutes. This is not the type of person I wanted in my life, not if it meant that I would have to choose between him and Magnus because no matter what, Magnus would win every time.

"Oh, I wouldn't say amazing. Will told me all about it and I would say he was mediocre at best... compared to me anyway." Jem smirks.

What does he mean by that?

"Oh my god." Magnus pushes past me. "You're the other guy! You are the other guy Will has been seeing." Magnus's words hit me hard.

I'm the one he was crying about today. Crying because he couldn't tell me I was being played and he had the power to stop it. I comforted him over his pain.

"You two are disgusting, how could you treat us that way?" Magnus almost growls in anger. "I don't even care about me, I'm used to it. But how could you see someone like Alexander, someone so brutally kind and beautiful and then proceed to try and hurt him?" Magnus is almost yelling.

I feel my stomach do funny little flips at the little things he says about me. Did he really think I was beautiful?

"Magnus, let's go. They're not worth either yours or Alec's time." Jace steps up again, looking slightly angry. "And you," Jace jabs a finger at Jem. "If you come near my brother again, I will let Isabelle have you." Jace warns and I can't help but smile at that. We might not even be able to stop Isabelle from going after him once she finds out what happened here.

I can see then that Magnus himself looks like he wants to hit Jem. I know it would do more harm than good so I gently reach out to take his hand in mine. "Mags let's go." I say before pulling him slightly.

He relaxes suddenly and tightens his grip on my hand, it feels nice, so much nicer than it did with Jem.

Jem scoffs at our hands before turning off and walking away.

"Just wait until Isabelle hears about this."


	14. Chapter Fourteen

 

**Chapter Fourteen:**

  
"So... who's going to be the one to break the news to Isabelle?" Jace asks as we all take a seat in the car. Magnus and I sat in the back as it seems that Magnus is not going to let go of my hand anytime soon. I'm totally okay with it though, I mean I'm more than happy that he want's to hold my hand.

It also seems to be the only thing that's keeping him calm right now. I know this because whenever he starts to get overly annoyed at the thought of Jem he tightens his hold on my hand and takes a deep breath. It's nice that I'm someone that he can use when annoyed, in a good way of course. Not being used in the way that Jem used me, what I mean is that I like that I'm someone Magnus trusts enough.

"I'll tell her, if either you or Magnus does it then I'm sure you'll all go off for a fight when it's not worth it." I say, I'm then met by a fierce glare courtesy of one Magnus Bane.

"Not worth it? how could you say that it is not worth it?... Alexander, he played with your emotions and made you believe that-" Magnus looks like he is about to go on a rant, so I think it's best if I stop it before it can start.

"But we found out before any real damage could be done. I'm fine Magnus, and it's thanks to you that I am." A slight cough from the front makes me roll my eyes. "And Jace, of course." I say just to appease the boy, who is currently pulling onto our street.

"That doesn't matter, Alec. I should've stopped it before you even went on that date, you shouldn't have been made to go through that, not someone like you, never someone like you, not when you deserve the world and more." Magnus has turned to look at me straight on.

I meet his eyes and I see that he has went back to using his contacts again. I wish he wouldn't do that, his real eyes are too beautiful to stay hidden under a layer of contacts.

I was too busy trying to find a way to answer Magnus to even notice that we had arrived back home again. Not until the car stopped and I watched as Magnus took off his seatbelt, he then undoes mine whilst he was at it. He doesn't move again however until Jace had gotten out of the car.

"We'll talk later okay?" Magnus rests a hand on my neck, stroking my jaw slightly. "I want to know what happened on that horrendous date of yours, I don't think you should keep it hidden inside." He looks at me, waiting for an answer.

I nod quickly. "After we tell Isabelle what happened." I say then I grip his hand tighter. "You'll come with me, I don't know if I'll be able to stop Isabelle from going off and killing Jem for hurting me." I ask and this makes him smile.

"I doubt anyone could stop her, darling." Magnus strokes my jaw again, he is then quiet for a moment as he just lazily smiles and looks at me, then he speaks again. "But, I'll do it for you. I'd do anything for you." He whispers then pulls back, ready to get out of the car.

I on the other hand, just stare at the space he left behind. Not quite sure how to process what just happened, not believing that Magnus had said all that he had said. He looked at me in a way that had me second guessing his feelings for me, perhaps they're not just friendly.

"Are you coming?" Magnus asks, a small smirk on his face as he holds a hand out to me in aid of getting out of the car. I take it gladly, the contact feels nice and nothing like how I felt with Jem. How could anything feel like what I felt with Magnus? It would seem silly of me to even try.

* * *

 

The whole place was turned upside down when we walked into the house. It seemed that Isabelle was taking her plan of cleaning out my wardrobe, very seriously.

"Oh, I forgot to warn you about this. Isabelle and I went shopping for you after school and she started all of this just as we were leaving to come and collect you." Magnus gestures to the living room, the doorway has clothes spilling out of the doorway and into the hall.

God, I could only imagine what the living room must look like, especially if the clothes are already spilling into the hall.

"Darling, it seems like you are quite the hoarder. I bet some of these clothes haven't fit you in years, I mean look!-" Magnus leans down to pick up a dark blue shirt from the floor, "this might have fit you when you were fourteen, but not with the body you have now, which I'm very thankful about." Magnus actually scans his eyes up and down my body, making me tingle and blush under his gaze. "Although, it seems I was right with this colour being perfect for you." Magnus holds the shirt up against my body. "Oh, definitely." He sighs slightly.

"Magnus?" I ask when he keeps his hands up against me. I have nothing against the touch, I just don't want to be left in any awkward situations that would make this a whole lot weirder than it already was.

"Hmm?...oh! I'm sorry Alexander, I always do get distracted when I'm faced with an amazing work of art." Magnus winks at me before dropping the shirt and walking into the living room. "Come along darling, it's time to inform the devil." Magnus takes my hand without even questioning it.

I follow him into the room to see that the living room was indeed worse than the hallway. There was bags of new stuff and old stuff littered around the room, Clary was on one of the sofa's trying her best to fold everything up and keep it neat, but Isabelle is just undoing all of her work by throwing certain items around the room as if she were looking for something. Simon was just standing looking a little lost amongst the piles of clothing.

"Hey, Alec!" Simon cries, sounding relieved to see me for some reason. I'm guessing it's because of Isabelle because as soon as she hears my name she has whipped around to look at me.

"Tell. Me. Everything." She states before glancing down at my hand holding onto Magnus', she doesn't say anything about it though. Her face does take on a less excited look, as if she knows that something went wrong and that's why I was back to suddenly.

"Well-" I begin but I'm promptly shut up by Jace, who had taken a set next to Clary. She seemed to be forcing him to help her clean, but I knew he was only doing it because he liked Clary, whether he knows it or not.

"He's the biggest dick to walk this earth." Jace growls out, making everyone look at him. Magnus laughs out in agreement, nodding his head to Jace's words.

"Jace, is that really necessary?" Clary asks him, hitting him with one of my old night shirts from when I was about twelve. God, Magnus was right, I was hoarding clothes.

"Yes. He deserves it after what he did." Jace tells her, his face the most serious I had ever seen it be. "He used Alec, and his boyfriend or whatever also used Magnus." Jace kicks at a pile of clothes that had yet to be folded. "He then basically started calling Magnus a slut." Simon gasps.

"Wait... what do you mean by he used them?" Clary asks, looking over at Magnus and I, looking for us to answer.

"Obviously I was sleeping with Will until last night, last night he told me that he had also been sleeping with someone else who was not ready to be with him in that way." Magnus admits and I can see the look of shock on Clary's face. She obviously wasn't expecting Will to be that kind of guy.

"Magnus told me that today, he also told me that the other guy Will was seeing, also had a potential boyfriend of sorts... me." I say and the result is almost instant.

Clothes suddenly fly over my head as Isabelle throws them away, before I even had time to stop her, she is stomping towards the door. "How dare that low life, douchebag bastard do that to my brother!" She yells loudly, no doubt alerting Max to what is going on, meaning he will be down any moment to see what is going on.

"Isabelle stop." Jace blocks her off from the doorway. "You know that going after him is just going to do more harm than good, plus you don't even know if that's what Alec wants." Isabelle turns her eyes to me after Jace says this, her eyes loose their anger when she looks at me.

"Are you okay?" She asks like this was a massive deal. Sure I was attracted to the guy, but it's not like we had been together all that long. This was our first date, and if anything I'm glad I found out this early. I mean, it is a little crap that this was how my first date ever went, but I still got to go home after and spend it with the people I truly cared about.

"I'm honestly fine. I'm glad that I found out before we got any further into our relationship. You don't need to run off to defend my honour yet Izzy." I joke and it's enough to crack a smile from her.

"I'm glad Jace called you when he did." Isabelle hooks an arm around Jace's side. "Although at the time I wasn't all that happy about it." She turns to Jace. "I'm sorry I ever doubted your secret sixth Alec sense." She nudges him in the ribs with her elbow, he frowns for a moment but when he looks down at her face, he can't help but to smile.

"Trust me, I'm glad he called when he did too." I announce before even thinking it through, I've been doing that a lot recently.

"Why?" Simon asks, looking a little concerned. "Did he do something to you?" He looks around the room at Magnus and Jace, almost hoping they know something.

"No, well I mean- nothing bad....just." Magnus holds up a hand to stop my babbling.

"It's clear that Alexander is uncomfortable with this, so I think it best to wait until he decided he wants to tell us." Magnus says directly to Simon, who opens his mouth to say something else but Magnus just settles him with a glare that shuts him right up.

"Thank you." I say before turning to face him more, trying to block out the other people so they can't hear what I am about to say. "I want to tell you though, I trust you." I say and it makes his face light up.

"Shall we go?" He asks then motions with his head to the door. I nod my head once before moving towards the door, Magnus trailing behind me, his hand still in mine. "Carry on with what you were doing, just don't bother us with the mess." Magnus calls out behind him as we make our way up to my bedroom.

We are stopped however when I notice that Max had been sitting on the steps listening to everything that was going on. He looked shocked when he saw us come around the corner to the stairs.

"Max, what has Mom told you about listening on adult conversations?" I say when I see him sitting there, looking like a deer caught in headlights for a moment before getting over the shock and fixing a small frown on me.

"You guys aren't adults though, Mom said I wasn't allowed to listen in on adults conversations... she said nothing about teenagers." He says smugly, he knows I can't say anything to Mom or tell him off for listening in because he and I both know he is right.

"Technically young Lightwood, Simon and I both turned Eighteen a couple of months ago, that makes us both adults. We were both part of that conversation, therefore you were listening on adult conversations." Magnus throws in there and it makes the smug look fall off his face, soon to be replaces with fear.

"Please don't tell Mom, she'll take away my comics again! Clary just got me a new one and I was going to start it tonight!" Max pleads. He stands up and backs up one of the stairs. "I promise I'll stay in my room all night and I won't try to make Izzy let me stay up later, I'll swear to be quiet!" Max honestly looks terrified of the power Magnus holds over him right now.

"Easy buddy, I won't tell your mother. I may be an adult but that doesn't make me boring. I too have been known to eavesdrop from time to time." Magnus winks at Max and I could literally see the tension roll off of his body but then he seems to remember me.

"Are you going to tell Mom, Alec? I promise I won't do it again." He asks, looking up at me through his large glasses.

I look at Magnus who has a smirk on his face, looking at me as if I was some sort of scary discipliner out of the two of us. I sigh before turning to Max again. "Fine, you won't get busted for it this time. Now go to your room and I'll make you some dinner soon, I doubt whatever Isabelle tried to make you eat was very edible." I ruffle Max's hair slightly, making him grin.

"Thanks Alec!" Max shoved his glasses back up his nose then turns to run back up to his room, he slams the door shut behind him, leaving Magnus and I standing on the stairway after him.

"I like him." Magnus comments before walking the rest of the way up the stairs and into my room.

I don't know why I am beginning to miss the feel of his hand whenever he lets mine go. I should stop feeling like this because I know the longer I let it go on, the harder it will be to stop feeling that way, especially if he gets another boyfriend or whatever. I don't want to be hurt because of my own stupid feelings.

Once I notice that I had been standing on the steps for too long after Magnus left, I quickly walk up the rest of them before shuffling into my room and closing the door.

Magnus was sitting on the bed looking at some clothes that had been folded neatly onto my bed. "These were my picks for you, I set them in here so Isabelle couldn't throw them around the room with the others." Magnus holds up a denim shirt that I surprisingly really like. I was really worried when they said they had got new clothes for me. "You should wear this tomorrow, to the party." He suggests then lays it back onto the bed.

"I think I will, I like it thank you." I say before climbing onto the bed beside him. I move back until I am sitting against the wall, my back pressed flush up against it. Magnus moves until he is sitting in front of me, he takes my hands in his like what I did when I was comforting him about Will.

"Who would've thought that we'd be in this same position again today," Magnus chuckles slightly. "Only now It's my turn to listen and comfort you." His thumb strokes circles onto the back of my hand.

"Yeah, we're both a little bit of a mess right now huh?" I say

"Amen." Magnus replies and I laugh.

"Did you just preach me?" I ask through my laugher, Magnus frowns for a moment before laughing along with me.

"Yes, I think I did." He takes his hands away and moves back slightly. "What are you going to do about it?" He asks, his eyes sparkling with the challenge. That's one thing he should know, I can never really back down from a challenge.

"Maybe...THIS!" I push myself off of the wall, knocking him backwards onto the bed. I run a hand roughly through his hair, making him squeak.

"Alexander! no stop please!" Magnus laughs as he tries to regain control. "This took me an hour to do! it was so perfect you heathen." Magnus smirks then I feel his legs wrap around my waist.

I had about three seconds to enjoy that feeling before Magnus was using his thighs to flip us around until he is straddling my legs.

"Oh ho ho, how the tables have turned my darling." Magnus uses one hand to pin mine above my head. "I could do anything right now, perhaps I should do your hair... or your makeup? I think you would look wonderful in-"

"Alec? what's with all the yel- Oh!" My head snaps to the side to see that Isabelle has just walked into the room. Her eyes wide and slightly horrified at the sight in front of her.

Crap.

This must look so bad to someone who hadn't been in here to see how it started. I mean Magnus is literally sitting on top of me, he is pinning my arms down and his body is half over mine. His hair was dishevelled and his eyes were wide and wild.

"This uh- isn't what it looks like? he wanted to do my makeup" I say quickly.

"He messed up my hair." Magnus adds in like it would make so much sense to her now.

"Right..." Isabelle still can't seem to look away.

"Close the door on your way out Isabelle." Magnus states as if hinting to get Izzy to leave. "Thank you." Magnus hasn't moved from on top of me. A small voice in the back of my head asks me why I'm complaining, having Magnus on top of me like this should be what I want.

Isabelle blinks once before backing out of the room and closing the door.

We both turn to look at each other as soon as the door closes, we both burst out laughing when we meet each other's eyes. The force of Magnus laughing knocks him off of me, but he doesn't go far. He just lies on one side of the bed whilst I lie on the other. It's nice, after the two of us stop laughing, we just kind of sit in a comfortable silence.

Until Magnus decides he wants to know what happened with Jem.

"So, what happened on this date that had you so spooked?" Magnus asks, one hand coming up to play with the buttons on my shirt.

I struggle to think of the words to say because I don't want Magnus to think I'm weird because I have never kissed anyone before. He surely had kissed someone, because I mean- look at the guy! he's gorgeous and I think it would be a crime for someone not to have kissed this man.

"Well, he wanted to kiss me and I haven-" I start to tell him the truth but then when his eyes flick up to mine, looking like he already know what I was going to say, I quickly decided to tell a little white lie. "Haven't had much experience with that so I was a little afraid." I say, "I also wasn't ready for that... not on the first date." Magnus nods his head.

"That's okay that you're not ready, Alexander. I think it's amazing that you decided and acted on what you didn't think was right for you. It would be shitty of him to have made you uncomfortable." Magnus sounds like he is reading from inspirational quote book.

"You are amazing, do you know that?" I say to him, this was one of the times that I was fully conscious of what I was saying. I just had to let him know how much I appreciated all that he had done for me in the short time I had known him. God, it felt like I have known him for years, little less just under a week. Surely I shouldn't be feeling these kind of feelings for someone I met a couple of days ago, but I can't help it. I could really see myself with this man lying beside me.

Magnus' eyes soften and his hand stops playing with the buttons, it now rests flat on my chest. "So you've said Alexander, but I do love hearing it." Magnus smiles. "You're pretty amazing too." he whispers, it's only when his breath ghosts across my face do I realise just how close we were now.

This was the same position I found myself in with Jem before I freaked out. The same feeling as if I was about to be kissed, but only here, now with Magnus felt like something completely different than it did with Jem. This time I was sure that I would gladly give my first kiss to him. Right now I considered it his, it belonged to him.

My eyes meet Magnus' and I notice that at some point between getting out of the car to right this moment, he had taken out his contacts. I was met with the strange but beautiful golden colour of his real eyes. I found myself getting lost in them, there was something that was just so magical about their colours that all added too make the strangest of gold.

"Your eyes are beautiful, I hate that you hide them." I whisper whilst one hand comes up to gently touch his cheek, just under his eyes.

Magnus smiles softly, his hand also coming up towards my face, only he stops at my neck and begins to trace a weird z like pattern into it, and it felt really nice.

"I meant it when I said that you were beautiful." Magnus admits, his finger still tracing his little design.

I blush slightly and I know that if this were any other time, I would be looking down away from him but I can't take my eyes off of his. "You are-" I start but I have no time to finish before we both mutually move closer to each other.

This was it, I was going to have my first kiss with Magnus Bane, and it was going to be wonderful and-

"ALEC YOU NEED TO MAKE DINNER OR ISABELLE WILL KILL US ALL!" Magnus and I jump away in fright as the door slams open and both of my brothers storm in. Neither of them seem to care that I was busy, or the fact that Magnus and I were sitting in bed together.

Max runs right over and grabs my arm, pulling me from the bed and away from Magnus. "C'mon, she's in the kitchen now! she told us not to tell you and to leave you and Magnus alone but...she's going to kill us!" Max pulls me as far as the door before letting me go.

Jace is quick to hurry Max out of the room. I turn to Magnus as soon as they're gone, he is smiling at me and also looking a little dazed.

"I-" Magnus just holds up a hand.

"Go do your job as big brother." Magnus turns to lie on his side, one hand propping his head up to look at me. "I won't be going anywhere." His smile is soft and I'm so tempted just to let Isabelle give everyone food poisoning. It would be the perfect revenge for them ruining this moment.

But I knew it would be best if I just got this out of the way, because then I could go back and spend more time with Magnus.

"I'll be right back." I promise before giving him one last look over.

"I'll hold you too that darling." He smiles then closes his eyes and relaxes back on my bed in a way that should be classed as a sin.

With the promise of spending more time with him, I rush out of the room and down to the kitchen, just in time to stop the whole thing from going up in flames.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

 

Chapter Fifteen:

  
Sadly, despite what we said, I did not get to see Magnus again after I helped in the kitchen. I did see him for two minutes when he came down to tell me that he had to go home as his mother wanted to take him out somewhere. He didn't look very fond of the idea of leaving as much the same as I.

As there were so many other people in the room at that point, I could hardly say goodbye like I wanted too, it was just a simple goodbye and the squeeze of the hand before someone else dragged him into a hug.

I decided that I wouldn't let his sudden departure get me down, I knew that I had the whole weekend to spend time with him. Maybe in that time, I can figure out what is between the two of us after that almost kiss we had I don't think it's all 100% friendship, or that might just be my wishful thinking.

It could've just been that we had been caught up in the moment, I mean we were pretty close and had been having some fun, so maybe it was just all the good energy we got from playing around with each other. It could happen, I mean there wasn't any other build up to it was there? I had just told Magnus that I didn't have much experience so it could've only been an accident. He surely wouldn't want to kiss someone like me, someone who had never kissed anyone else because surely that wouldn't be very enjoyable for him.

This whole thought process keeps me up half of the night so by the time Isabelle is pounding on my door, telling me that I had slept the whole way through breakfast and that if I didn't get up now then I would be late, I was in a pretty bad mood.

The weather seemed to match my mood because today was the first day since we got here that it rained. The only bright side about it was that Mom had to drive us to school, even though it meant she would be late for work. Both Isabelle and Jace were more than happy to walk but I sat secretly hoping they would shut up because the last thing I needed this morning was to get soaked to the bone. We only had one umbrella and I couldn't fit under it with both of my siblings as I was just too tall for that, they also know that fact all too well so their selfishness has also put me in a bad mood.

"I call shotgun," Isabelle calls as she walks towards the front door. I unceremoniously past her after she says it, not caring that she almost falls into the coat rack. I was no longer sitting cooped up in the back of the car, with my legs squished up to my chest. I often let it slide when it came to Max, as he spoke to Mom more than us in the car so it was just easier to let him.

"That's unlikely, you try sitting in the back of the car with legs like mine. Once you do that then I'll be glad to let you sit up front." I snap at her before shoving my hood out and walking outside to meet Mom in the car.

"What's your problem?" Isabelle shouts as she follows behind me. "You've been in a sour mood all morning? I know you had a rough night last night but I thought that Magnus cheered you up-"

"Shut up Isabelle!" I hiss at her, turning around to face her as I do. "It's none of your business so just butt out." I snap before I stalk the rest of the way to the car. I get into the front seat next to Mom, who was looking at me with wide eyes. She had obviously heard me blow up at Isabelle.

She doesn't say anything though, she just puts her phone down and starts the car as a stunned Isabelle gets into the car. Jace follows behind her with Max trailing after him. Max looked confused when he saw me sitting in the front seat of the car, but he just shrugs and gets in beside Jace.

Jace and Max immediately start up a conversation, Isabelle joins in not too long later. I just sit there glaring down at my phone as I scroll through facebook, even though not much is happening as it's the first thing in the morning and people are only just waking up for work and school.

I do notice a picture Magnus had put up, it was a picture of what I'm guessing to be his cabin and the caption was him going on about how excited he was to spend the weekend here with his friends. I see there was quite a lot of comments on it, so I press the comments button to see what people had been saying.

I hardly recognized any of the names of the people on it. There were some people who were almost begging Magnus to let them come along, some were even promising him a "night he would never forget" whilst others just shamelessly flirted. I noticed that some of our actual friends commented on it too, such as Lydia and Maia. They were the only ones that Magnus replied too, and it was all about what they were wearing, which was a weird thing to be considering such it was such a small group of people that were going to the thing in the first place. Were we supposed to dress fancy? even though we were only going to as a group and we weren't going to be leaving his cabin.

By the time I had read through all of the comments, we had arrived at the school. I only threw a half-hearted goodbye to Mom and Max before shoving my hood up, grabbing my bag and making my way into the school.

I had to jog to get out of the heavy rain faster. Usually, the rain bothered me if I were out in it but today the cold water and harsh wind woke me up a little more. It made me feel slightly fresh after having such a bad night, and it helped wake my head up so I was no longer walking around in a tired angry haze, I even felt bad for shouting at Isabelle.

I'll apologize to her later.

"Alec!" I hear someone shout my name through the sound of the rain. I turn my head to see Catarina running through the puddles, making them splash up against her blue baggy jeans, it didn't affect her much since she was wearing heels underneath those jeans.   
Once she reaches me, she holds the umbrella up for the both of us to stand under, luckily she was wearing heels so we could both comfortably stand under it.

"Hey," I say, trying to sound calm and collected as I didn't want to snap at her too.

"Alec, I heard what happened last night and I'm so sorry!" She is almost tripping over herself as she tries to keep up with me. She looks desperate and sad as if what happened with Jem last night was her fault. "I didn't know Jem was doing that...honestly. If I had known- "

"Cat, it's not your fault," I say to her as I push open the door to the school, allowing her to walk in before me. "You didn't make him do that and you didn't know. It was his fault and Will's." I follow in behind her, my hands coming up to steady her as she walks backward to continue talking to me, she looks incredibly unsteady on those shoes.

"I know that, but I still introduced you to him. I wanted you to meet someone because I knew you were feeling something for Magnus and he was in that whole friends with benefits thing with Will, so I didn't want you pining after him- I thought that if I introduced you to Will then Magnus would realise that you'd both be better off together." She stops in the middle of the entranceway. "I just made a big mess of everything." She looks a little teary eyed.

My bad mood had suddenly gone away as she explained what she had done. No one had ever put that much interest into my life, to make me happy. It was the first time and I was super touched that she went through the effort of doing it for me.

I'm suddenly pulling her into a hug, which obviously takes her by surprise because her hands fly up to grab hold of me, the wet umbrella is now dripping down my back.

"Thank you," I say to her, making her make a weird squawking noise in the back of her throat. "You didn't mess anything up. You are not Jem, you don't make his choices for him. But you did make your own choice and I'm very touched you would do that for me, and for Magnus." I say to her before pulling back.

"But-" She starts.

"Nope. I stand by my gratitude, and I firmly believe that you didn't mess anything up." I say with a small wink. I then step back from her so I could turn and walk towards the dining area, where I knew our friends would be waiting.

I'm surprised to see that Isabelle and Jace were already sitting at the table. They were talking to Maia and Magnus whilst Simon sat on his phone.

"Here comes the grump now." Isabelle glares as Catarina and I make our way to the table. I sit down across from Magnus who sends me a small secret smile.

"Look, Isabelle, I'm sorry... okay?" I say to her, looking at her from where she sits next to Magnus. She huffs slightly but I can tell she is just putting it on, she can never stay angry at me for too long.

"I don't forgive you." She sticks up her nose and turns away slightly, I smile at her childish attitude.

I know she is just fishing for something better, she wants me to do or give her something and I know something that might help. "I'll let you dress me for tonight," I say in an almost teasing voice like I was actually talking to a five-year-old, let alone my almost seventeen-year-old sister.

She turns to look at me, eyebrow raised and a small smile beginning to grow on her face. "And your hair?" She asks as if baiting me. She knows if I say no then she can go back to pretending she was mad at me.

"Obviously," I say then she is suddenly flinging herself over the table, her arms going around my neck and holding me in a tight hug.

"Of course I'll forgive you! I was never really mad." She says like I didn't already know that. She seriously doubts how well I know her. I basically raised her even though there wasn't much difference in our ages.

"I would have never guessed," I say before kissing the top of her head. "Can you let go of me now, this isn't the most comfortable I have ever been," I say and she gives me one last squeeze before letting go.

"Okay, yeah sure... now, what were we talking about before Alec and Cat arrived?" Isabelle asked.

"How I would totally beat your brother in a fight." Maia pipes up from where she was sitting at the bottom of the table.

"Like hell, you would, Roberts," Jace argues back. He stands up to come sit at the table. He was previously sitting on top of another table next to some girls who were giggling and whispering whilst sending flirty glances Jace's way. He paid no attention to them as he sent a challenging smile at Maia. "I think we should put it to the test." He leans against the table. "Make things a little interesting." He tests, making Maia smile.

"Oh, I think that sounds perfect. I can't wait to knock you on your ass, Jace Wayland." She smirks, "I just hope you are willing to give up your fragile masculinity, ya know when you get beat up by a girl." She teases him and I'm surprised that Jace doesn't fight back on that, his face stays poker straight as if the comment didn't bother him at all.

"Please, I'm perfectly comfortable with my masculinity." He fires back, glad to have had the upper hand.

"What about your sexuality? are you comfortable with that?" She asks and suddenly all the color had drained from his face and I see his eyes flicker to Simon for only a millisecond before he looks down at the table, completely silent.

Maia seemed to notice this. "Jace- I'm uh, sorry?" She looks at Isabelle then I, as if looking for an answer that neither of us could give her. I myself look to Isabelle, completely confused by Jace's behavior.

"It's nothing... but uh-" Jace then pulls out his phone, shrinking into himself as he messages someone on it.

Isabelle meets my look and shrugs.

Simon then takes that moment to look up at the table, seeming to come back down to earth and sense the mood at the table. "What's going on?" He asks, paying close attention to the pale, closed off Jace. "Hey, you okay?" He asks Jace then leans over to touch his hand.

Jace automatically pulls his hand back away from Simon, not looking at him at all whilst he does it. I notice a flash of hurt and something else in his eyes as he pulls his hand back to his own phone. I am suddenly even more confused, I knew I had my suspicions about Jace and Simon but I didn't think it could actually be true. I mean It's wrong of me to assume but it was just that Jace had spent all his time with all these women that I just thought that they were it for him, until this week, I never expected he could feel anything for the male gender. I also know that it's best to wait for him to come to me about it as it might make him go even further into a shell, and that's not going to be good for him in the long run. I just need to let him know that I will be there to support him through anything, he's my brother so of course, I was going to love him no matter what.

"Well... this all took an unexpected turn." Magnus waves a dismissive hand towards the end of the table where Jace and Simon sat, he then turned to fully face Maia, Catarina, Isabelle and I. "So my lovelies, I was wondering how you are all getting to my wonderful abode." Magnus asked.

"Well Jordan has a car and he said he can take three other people, so we were thinking Lydia and Jordan, then whoever else needs a ride," Maia tells us.

"Lydia has a car." Isabelle puts in, "Her mom is letting her use it, she's taking Jace and me there." Maia frowns slightly.

"And Alec?" She asks, sparing a glance at me whilst I stare at Isabelle. Why hadn't I known about that, were they just going to leave me to find my own way there? rude.  
  
"He can ride with you...right?" Isabelle asks her hopefully. "Lydia only had two spaces left in her car so I was going to try asking around for Alec today." Isabelle sends an apologetic look at me.

"Of course, what about you Magnus?" Maia asks after sending a smile my way. I liked Maia, she seemed fierce and able to handle herself, whilst also being really kind and protective of the people she cared for.

"I wouldn't mind tagging along I don't particularly like driving, I prefer to be the one riding in the back." Magnus winks at me suddenly and I don't have a clue why.

"Hey, me too," I say and suddenly both Maia and Isabelle are bursting out laughing whilst Catarina just chokes on air. I don't see what is going on here, wait!

It had suddenly dawned on me what Magnus was meaning.

"Oh... no wait-"

"Well. Alexander... that's wonderfully insightful." Magnus is also laughing, "Oh you're just adorable when you are all flushed like that." Magnus grins at me and I feel my face heat up.

"It wasn't what I-" I start to say but Maia just cuts me off.

"Oh you don't need to explain yourself, Alec, no one will kink shame you here." She winks. I groan at her words before letting my head fall against the table.

"I hate you all," I mumble against the plastic feeling wood of the table.

They all just laugh harder. "Who are you kidding darling, you know you really love us," Magnus says through his giggles.

Someone then pats my head. "there, there Alec." I look up to see that it is Isabelle.

"Shove off," I say just before the bell for first class rings.

Jace is up like a flash and is off before anyone could even try to speak to him. Simon looks sadly after him before heading to his first class at a slower pace than usual.

I once again share a look with Isabelle but this time it's a concerned one. She just shakes her head sadly before heading off to the closest staircase that leads to English.

"So Alec, I don't know if I'll see you at lunch since I have things to finish in my Media class, I have editing to do on a film I'm sending away to a New York film competition." She looks really proud of that fact. "So, should I just come to your house after I go home to pick up my stuff, my stuff meaning Jordan." She says with a grin which makes me smile too.

"Yeah, that sounds great. I'll make up some road trip snacks." I say to her and her grin widens.

"I knew I liked you for a reason, Alec Lightwood," Maia says then nudges me with her elbow. "So I'll see you after school?" She asks, backing away from me to head to class, by this point everyone had already made there was there.

"Absolutely," I say before turning around to grab my bag.

Only when I turn around I find that Magnus was standing right in front of me.

"I've wanted to do this since last night." He states.

"Do what-"

Magnus's hand is suddenly on the back of my neck, pulling me down until my lips are attached to his.

I gasp into the kiss but it only takes me a second before I am kissing him back, my arms coming around to wrap around his waist, pulling him tight against me so he doesn't have to stretch too much to reach me.

The kiss lasts a while, neither of us caring that we are going to be late to class. I only cared about the feel of his lips against mine and the faint feel of his teeth biting into my bottom lip, sending shockwaves of pleasure through me.

The kiss ended pretty naturally, well when we both really needed to breathe, but we didn't move very far. I lean my head against him, keeping my eyes closed whilst I caught my breath.

I could almost feel Magnus smile as one of his hands caressed the hairs at the bottom of my neck and the other drew circles against my back.

"Totally worth the wait." He sighs.

It so was.

 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

 

**Chapter Sixteen:**

It had been several hours since my kiss with Magnus but I swear I could still feel his lips on mine. It was like a faint tingling sensation whenever I thought about what had happened.

It had happened so fast and in my opinion, it ended too quickly. I wanted to spend all day kissing him, feeling his play with the hairs on my neck In the way that made shiver from the light touches.

I can't believe how I hadn't kissed him before, now that it happened it just kind of felt so right to me like it was stupid that I had never tried to before. I mean there was last night, and I can't help but wish that it did happen because then I would be able to say that I had kissed him twice, but sadly it didn't.

I hope that it will happen again some point today. It was just waiting for that right moment that was causing all the problems for me, as it was just about to be lunch and I had yet to see him. I also didn't really have the chance to do much of anything with him there as it was a public place, meaning we'd be surrounded by strangers and our friends, who don't actually know that we kissed.

Well to my knowledge they don't know, I hadn't told anyone but I'm not too sure about Magnus.

When the bell rang for lunch I wanted to all but sprint back down to the cafeteria, but Lydia and Jordan were in my class so it would look weird if I didn't walk down with them. I just wished they would walk a lot faster than they were. Sure they had no rush to be in, not when they both already had a boyfriend and girlfriend, but some people like me need this precious time.

When we finally reach the cafeteria, I spot our table straight away.

Also meaning I spot Magnus straight away, sitting with his feet propped up on top of another seat, meaning that Jace was standing without a seat far enough away from Simon as possible. I can tell that this small fact is amusing Magnus in some way, I can see Jace glaring at him from where he stands.

When we reach the table Magnus looks up at me, his eyes bright. "Hello there, what took you all so long to get out of class?" Magnus asks as he moves his feet from the seat and gestures for me to sit down. I feel a strange fluttery feeling in my stomach when I realise he had saved the seat for me, but I ignored it as I sat down. I saw Jace frown at Magnus before going to sit in the seat across from Clary and Simon, all the conversation on that side lulled a little but picked up when Jace automatically went onto his phone and began to ignore everyone.

"Not everyone rushed through life, Magnus. We just took a stroll down here." Lydia says before biting into an apple. "You act like you are excited to see us, I didn't know you loved me that much." She winks at Magnus who just grins a Cheshire cat grin back at her.

"Of course I do dear." He says sweetly. "I'm excited to see you, all of you," Magnus adds then I'm suddenly aware of someone touching my hand under the table.

My first instinct is to jerk my hand away from whatever is touching it but then I feel long and thin delicate fingers link through mine and I just know that it's only Magnus. Once I realise it's him, I tighten the grip of our hands slightly before moving them to rest on my knee which is currently presses against his.

"So, I heard about you two." Jordan pipes up whilst looking at Magnus and me, both of us jerk our heads to look at him. Did someone see us kiss and then spread it around, does everyone already know about it. The thought of it being spread around and the control of who gets to know being taken away from me, actually makes me start to panic slightly. The feel of Magnus stroking his thumb across the back of my hand is the only thing that calms me down.

"Care to elaborate?" Magnus asks, and it's then that I remember that it could be anything. There is so much he could've been talking about and I was just being paranoid.

"You are catching a lift with Maia and me?" Jordan looks confused by our behaviour but I barely notice as I breath out a sigh of relief. He didn't know about the kiss, perhaps it wasn't being spread around the school after all.

"Ah yes. I wanted to discuss that with you actually." Magnus says whilst continuously drawing patterns into the back of my hand. "I know what the plan is for collecting Alexander-" Jordan cuts him off.

"Ah, yeah we were talking about that. Is there a chance you could go to Alec's before? it would be easier to pick everyone up." Jordan asks and I could physically feel Magnus perk up at that question.

"I mean, I guess I could go back to Alec's, considering I have all the stuff I need in my locker... only if that's okay with you Alexander?" Magnus turns to look at me. I meet his eyes to see nothing but excitement sparkling in them, and it's clear to me what Magnus want's to do if we go back to mine, finishing what we started last night.

I gulp, my hand's start to sweat and I feel slightly nervous, but in a completely brilliant way. "I- uh yes, that would be... grand," I say around a thick feeling in my throat. Magnus laughs slightly at my behaviour, totally knowing what my problem was and how he was affecting me.

"Perfect! We'll pick you up around 4?" He asks as he looks down at his phone. "We finish here at twelve so you should have plenty of time to do what you need to do." Jordan picks up his phone then, typing out a message on it.

"Oh I believe we will, so much can be done even in the littlest amount of time." He gives my hand a squeeze and I feel my face heat up at the blatant suggestion.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  
Magnus and I walked home with Isabelle.

We walked side by side, hands close to each other, meaning that the brushed slightly whenever we strayed close enough. Isabelle was none the wiser and she started going on about something that happened between her and Clary. I didn't pay much attention to her until she started talking about Jace and his weird behaviour.

"So." She started then stopped in her tracks, meaning we both had to stop too as she was walking in front of us. "Do you think our little Jace has feelings for Simon?" She asks, quirking an eyebrow at our sheepish looks. Just before she had turned around, I had given Magnus's hand a faint stroke, as if I were going to take it but then she turned and almost caught me.

"Until this morning I believed he felt for Clary," Magnus answers honestly, looking up at me to see if I was going to agree.

I mean I did agree, but I also didn't. I was the person who knew Jace the best in the world so I was also the one to recognise that Jace had been acting off character around Simon for a while now. Then again he also acted as if he felt for Clary also, I think he is just confusing himself.

"Yes... and no. I've noticed that Jace had been closer with Simon for the past couple of days, but I didn't think to make a big deal about it since he was also still talking to his plentiful amount of women that he has met, and Clary." I say before we all start walking again.

Isabelle looks like she is deep in thought. "Do you think that him sleeping with so many women was just a way to hide from us that he feels for men?" She asks, looking a little upset about the idea. "Surely that can't be it? I mean- you're gay! we've all sort of known that even before you told us... so why would he think he would have to hide that from us?" Isabelle asks.

She never told me about that before. I thought I had hidden my sexuality pretty well, no one seemed to say anything or even hint about it so I just figured that when I finally told them that it was the first time they were hearing about it.

"To be fair, Jace did live with another family until the age of ten- am I correct?" Magnus asks.

I didn't think of that. Who knows what Jace's real father was like, perhaps he didn't quite agree with Jace's lifestyle choice. That might be why Jace thinks he needs to hide it... god, we have more in common than I previously thought.

It's perfectly understandable that he felt this way, Robert wasn't exactly open to the idea either and it wasn't all that long that I came out, perhaps Jace had been hiding because he knew I was, and now he was just struggling with the fact that he no longer had to hide. Jace could be like that sometimes, I mean he refused to cry for almost a full month after the death of his father, only because he was raised to believe that his emotions made him weak. He believed that Mom and Robert would think the same thing and it wasn't until he saw me cry once that the floodgates opened and he cried into Mom's embrace for almost three hours.

He got better with his emotions after that, not perfect, and it took some time to get it out of him and to make him comfortable with the idea of expressing himself that way. I tried to help him as Mom requested me to do, but it was hard for me to try and coax him into doing it when I could barely express my own thoughts and feelings. Sometimes it took Isabelle locking us in a room with her, for us to even admit the smallest of things.

Fingers snap in front of my face, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look down to see that it was Magnus and he was looking slightly concerned by my behaviour.

"Are you okay, Alexander?" He asks, then proceeding to share a concerned look with Isabelle.

I smile at the both of them to let them know that nothing was wrong. "I just suddenly understand Jace a whole lot better, and I think we need to help him before he destroys himself. I never knew it until now, but he is so like me. I understand what he is going through right now and I didn't think I would." The both look concerned again.

"What do you mean?" Asks Isabelle, coming over to take my hand, which also gives Magnus an opening to take my other hand. To Isabelle, it would look like he was comforting me, which he was, but there was also an alternate agenda for him.

"He grew up with someone we don't know. How are we to know what he was raised to believe when we could hardly get him to talk about his favourite colour when we first met him. He could've been raised in a house that frowned against anything to do with homosexuality. I mean they frowned on showing too much emotion, and you saw how badly that scarred him." I say and dawning realisation appears in Isabelle's eyes.

"Then for him to move into a house with strangers that he's just expected to learn to know and live by the rules they set. Dad was never warm and fuzzy, you and I know that best. Sure he had us and Mom, but I was still in the closet then, closed off and denying who I was... that probably didn't project well on him when he could've been hiding some closeted secrets of his own. He couldn't talk to me about it either because both of us have 0 emotional range." I finish off my explanation, just as we arrive at the door to the house.

We stop there because we can't carry on this conversation in the house as Jace is probably already in there. We had to plan this out carefully to make sure we don't trigger him into doing something stupid. He's been known to make some rash decisions before.

"I don't want him to feel that way but... what can we do how do we tell him it's okay?" Isabelle shakes her head sadly. "If we manage to tick him off then we'd not only be hurting him, we'd also be hurting Simon as he so obviously feels something for Jace. You can just tell he does." I nod my head in agreement.

"We'll need to come up with a plan, we can't just ambush him... it's probably best to wait until after this weekend. It has to be the three of us, too many people will just aggravate him." I say because I know from experience what ticks Jace off, and crowds of people trying to get him to talk are definitely one of them.

"Agreed." Isabelle opens the door for us all. "Now I need to go pack, I'll be in later Alec to pick something for you to wear tonight." She flicks her hair over her shoulder then walks up the stairs to her room.

"Let's hope she knocks this time." Magnus whispers under his breath, "I fear I may kill her if she interrupts again." He jokes and I laugh slightly as I lead us both up the stairs to my room.

"As long as we're not as noisy as we were last night, I'm sure we'll be fine," I say as I close the door behind us, making sure that It's closed properly so I'll hear when Isabelle is starting to come in. My door handle got stuck if you shut it properly, meaning you had to fiddle slightly to open it, giving Magnus and I enough time to right ourselves before she comes in.

"Shame. I would quite like to hear-"

"Magnus!" I hiss when I realise where he was going with that sentence.

He smirks and watches as I walk closer to him. Once I'm in arms reach, he is wrapping himself around me, arms coming to wrap around my back.

"You're so easy to tease, Alexander." He smirks then leans up to press a quick kiss to my lips, leaving me shocked. "You know, I don't think you should've worried so much last night, about your lack of experience?" He comments before moving his arms up to around my neck, giving him the leverage he needed to pull me down to be closer to him.

"What do you mean?" I ask, trying to ignore the feeling of him pressing kisses to my jawbone.

"I mean, that your lack of experience didn't stop you from being the best kiss I have ever had." He answers, making me pull back to stare at him.

"You can't mean that... surely." How the hell could I have been his best kiss when he A. took me by surprise and B. took my first kiss ever.

Magnus smirks up at me before once again pressing his lips to mine, soft and gentle, but also slightly possessive at the same time. The way he slightly bites my bottom lip and sucks on my tongue, makes it seem like he is leaving his mark on me. The more adult side of me really likes this fact.

Magnus is the one to end the kiss, panting slightly as he speaks a couple of words. "Oh, most definitely." He pants before diving in for another kiss. His hand roam up and down my back, one accidentally catching on my shirt, leaving his hands on my bare skin.

It makes an embarrassing whimper leave my mouth.

Magnus pulls back in shock, his eyes wide and mouth red and swollen. "Oh." He gasps out. "That's just- oh, Alexander." He pulls me back down, his hand going back to my back, but this time he doesn't touch under my shirt.

All of a sudden though, Magnus pulls back from me. "Alexander- wait..." Magnus pleads when I go back for another kiss.

I freeze when I hear him say that, worried that I had hurt him in some way or another. He places a hand on my chest and smiles softly, "No. you done nothing wrong." He says as if he read my mind. "Look, you have no idea how badly I want to do this with you- the kissing is great and I am one hundred percent up for that but... I've never felt this way about someone before you. It had always been strangers and friends with benefits." Magnus stops to think of something, obviously struggling with what he is trying to say.

"Hey," I say softly, one hand coming up to touch his cheek. "Look, I get that we've rushed into this without even saying how we feel... so why don't we just take it slow, there is no rush to this," I say and relief floods his face.

"I have known you for a stupidly short amount of time- yet there is just something about this that feels so right- like I have known you for years... and I-" Magnus leans into the hand that was on my cheek.

"Hey, it's okay. Just say what you think... I'm not going to judge you." I lean down to kiss his forehead.

Magnus sighs softly at the touch. "I'm afraid that if we rush into things, I might- I might lose you." He looks away from me, hiding the uncharacteristic vulnerability in his eyes. I feel my breath catch at this unexpected turn.

"You won't lose me," I say before pulling him into a tight embrace, his head resting on my chest whilst mine rests atop of his. "I promise you won't. I don't want to lose you either... and I feel this too, I know that there is something between us, even though I have no idea what I'm doing... I must admit that I have told a slight lie." I say, making him freeze slightly.

"Alexa-" He starts to pull back but I just hold him closer.

"No, what I mean is- last night, I didn't want to kiss Jem, not because I had little experience, but because I had no experience... at all," I say, and this time when he pulls back to look at me, I let him go.

"Wait- I was your first kiss?" He asks, clearly in shock.

"Yes- I knew I wanted it with you. I just didn't think you would want to kiss me back. You had, and probably still have so many other and better options." Magnus starts shaking his head.

"No. You don't get it, Alexander." Magnus clings closer to me. "You are the first person to ever show any interest in me, that's not mostly sexual. You are the first romantic partner I may have that didn't start with me having drunk sex with." He laughs bitterly.

"Well, they missed out on something great. Their loss." I say before kissing his head again.

"Your gain," Magnus replies before resting his head on my chest again. "So where does this leave us?" Magnus asks softly.

I think for a moment before realising what I want. "Well. Will you be my boyfriend? I mean- if you want to be." I say to him before realising that I must sound stupid.

Magnus rubs my back. "Of course I will be." He looks up at me, resting his chin against my chest. "We'll go on a date, next week?" he asks.

"Sounds good." I press a simple chaste kiss to his lips before flicking my eyes to the TV. "For now though, would you like to cuddle and watch some zombies eat people?" I ask.

"Well, you do know how to romance a man." He jokes. "I would love too." He kisses me once more before letting go and making his way to the bed.

I could so get used to this.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

 

 

Chapter Seventeen:

I seriously believed that cuddling was overrated and that it probably wasn't as good as people said it was. It's not until now that I fully understood what the big deal was.

Me sleeping normally on this bed is now forever ruined for this moment here. Resting against my pillows, that had been propped up to allow me to still be comfortable, with Magnus in my hold.

His head was resting on my shoulder, whilst my arm lay under his head and up until I was able to play with the soft tips of his hair. One of his arms was underneath my back and the other was running a finger back and forth in a small line across my stomach.

"I told you to that things with Lori would only get worse, but you didn't listen." Magnus hums softly as we watch the screen. This was the last episode we could watch before Maia and Jordan arrived to get us. It was also the first episode we could sit here like we were, without worrying that Isabelle would come in, as she and Jace left two hours ago, Isabelle holding Magnus's keys to the cabin.

I smile at his little comment before kissing his head, "yeah, yeah now I know never to doubt you oh so great Magnus Bane." I joke, making him look up with a small satisfied smile on his face.

"You better remember that darling." He states then rests his head back on my chest.

I snort at his words but I don't say anything else for a moment, completely satisfied with the silence between us.

That's when the sound of my door opening shatters said silence.

"Alec?" I sit bolt upright when I hear the sound of Mom's voice.

"Uh, Mom... Hi." I say as I turn to look at her. Nerves are suddenly racking my body because I have no idea how she would take walking in on me cuddling with a boy.

To my surprise though, I see she is grinning in a way that reminds me too much of Isabelle. "Hello, who's this then?" She asks, gesturing her head towards a very calm looking Magnus, who was now sitting up next to me.

He smiles brightly at Mom and waves slightly. "Hi, Alexander's Mom, I'm Magnus and I'm..." Magnus stops then, looking at me as if I were to finish. I feel a rush of affection at the way he cared enough to make sure I was comfortable before he told my mother about us.

"Uh... Mom this is Magnus and he is my b-boyfriend." I say so quietly that I'm surprised if even Magnus heard me, and he was sitting right beside me.

But it's clear that she did, going by the shocked look on her face. "Well... I kind of guessed that darling." She laughs a small exasperated laugh, she flicks her eyes around the scene she walked in on, and yes. I guess it is a little clear that Magnus and I are close in that way.

She walks further into the room until she is standing next to the bed, I can see a fond look in her eyes as she looks at the both of us. "So how long have you been dating?" She asks then uses her elbow to nudge me further along the bed so she could join us. Oh god, I can already tell that this is going to be an embarrassing and intruding conversation, I hope Maia and Jordan arrive sooner rather than later.

"It's actually pretty new, we only really got together this morning," Magnus tells her truthfully. "But I felt for him for a while before that." He says and I feel my face heat up with embarrassment.

"This morning, wow so you must've been the boy he was on a date with yesterday?" She asks, in reference to my date with Jem.

"Sadly not, I was the one who saved him from said date... well Jace did tag along to help." He tells her and I see a flash of concern on her face.

"Save him? Alec, what happened? are you okay? Did he do something to you-" She starts firing off questions that I knew would soon end up being threats to Jem and his ancestors. She and Isabelle were the same when it came to protecting the family, it was one of the only things they shared that wasn't their looks.

"Mo- Mom!" I hold up my hands to get her to stop fussing. "He didn't do anything to me, I just wasn't comfortable in the situation so Magnus and Jace came to pick me up and truthfully, it was a good thing that they did, considering Jem was also dating someone else," I tell her, and the concerned look is suddenly replaced with fierce anger.

When she speaks though, it comes out as nothing but calm and collected. "Well. I'm glad you had Magnus, and brownie points for him now that I know he is sure to look out for you." She smiles Magnus who seems to thrive at the praise she gives him. "I approve... and I'm guessing Jace and Isabelle do too?" She looks between us. Usually, someone would be offended that I would need my sibling's permission to date someone, but both Mom and Magnus know how much my siblings mean to me.

"They would... if they knew, you're the first one that's not us that knows," I answer honestly, only now realizing just how secretive we have been about this so far. It seemed like no one knew, and the only people that knew about my feelings were Jace and Catarina.

Neither of them was thinking about that now though, as they were both busy with other things. Catarina was busy with school and trying to make it up to me after that date with Jem. Jace just had so many problems of his own that he shouldn't be bothered about what's going on in my life, not whilst he is struggling himself. I should be the one paying attention to him and trying to help him with his problems.

Now is probably not the best time to tell anyone, not until Magnus and I have had the time to see how this goes and to have a little time to enjoy this before everyone starts finding out about it. I have seen what it's like when people in a friend group start a relationship with each other, everyone seems interested in their lives and they barely get a moment alone when anything comes up about them and their lives.

It happened back in the times that I had friends in New York. It actually got so bad that when they broke up, they actually got bullied for it. It was a huge school scandal and it went way out of hand, like so out of hand that both of them moved and I didn't hear from them again.

They were the last friends I had, and I actually missed them a lot sometimes as we were very close. Even Mom and Robert were close with one of their parents, her name was Aline, and I think she is one of the stepping stones it took for me to realize that I was gay.

It took me a while to break out of my own head and remember that I was having a conversation.

It seemed that Magnus was answering the question that Mom had no undoubtedly asked, why didn't Jace and Isabelle know.

"- I don't think we made our feelings a big deal around anyone else, I mean I know my friend Catarina had her suspicions and I'm sure Jace did after last night, but that's about as much as we have shown. I must admit that I am known to be a little flirty so they probably thought I was just being my usual self, and yes I was at first, but then I realised just how unique your son is and I think it was that moment that I realised that I didn't want to just flirt wit- sorry, I'm getting off topic." Magnus blushed under our looks, and without thinking about it, I reach out to take his hand.

I see Mom smile before standing up and stretching slightly. "Right, I understand what you are getting at. I won't tell Isabelle or Jace, and I'll make sure to keep them out of your business until you are ready." She strokes my head slightly. "I'm glad that we moved here, I like seeing you this happy." She kisses my forehead then walks towards the door.

She stops however when she reaches the door, she turns around to look at Magnus. "Thank you." She says then walks out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

"Well... I can see where Isabelle gets it from." Magnus comments.

I laugh, because yes. That's exactly where Isabelle gets it, and it's why I love them both so much.

Having Mom know about this, and knowing that she liked Magnus, actually took a giant weight off of my shoulders. It was as if everything was falling into place for me.

I have a life. I have friends. I have all of my family that actually matters. I'm happy. I'm safe.

And I have Magnus.

Really there wasn't much else that I could want.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen:  
  
We had a brief fifteen minutes to ourselves after Mom left before she was calling up to us that Maia and Jordan had arrived to pick us up.  
  
"Do you have everything you need, Alexander? don't forget the outfit Isabelle chose for you." Magnus reminds me as he bends down to unplug his phone charger from the wall. "And I forgot to mention this but, I have a jack for two headphones so we will be listening to my music on the way there." He informs me.  
  
"Yes, I have the outfit and everything else you guys decided that I should take with me, and why can't we just listen to the same music as Maia and Jordan?" I ask as I swing my bag onto my shoulder. "Would it not be rude to ignore them after all, they are the ones giving us a ride there."  
  
Magnus shakes his head in mock horror. "I'm not spending an hour and a half in the car with those lovebirds and their crappy music taste." He shudders. "No, I would rather listen to music with you before accidentally falling asleep on your shoulder, when really it will just be me wanting to cuddle you again." Magnus holds out a hand for me.  
  
I take it quickly, intertwining my fingers with his. "Do you not think they would question that? I mean, we have never been that touchy feely around each other, and usually, when someone falls asleep on the other means that said someone is, I don't know- maybe interested in the other." I say because it's true. You only really see someone falling asleep on their sibling's shoulder, or their lovers and on the rare occasion that it's between two strangers, it always ends up that they become each other’s love interest.  
  
"Maybe we should tell them?" Magnus suggests as he opens the door to my room, getting ready to go downstairs. "I would make this weekend easier if one of our friends knew about us... perhaps if we wanted some time away from the crowd-" Magnus steps into my personal space, going onto his tip toes to press several kisses to my jaw. "- it would help to have allies, to throw everyone off our trail, even better if it's a couple who understands our need and want to be alone." I have to admit, I do like the sound of that.  
  
I also think I can trust Maia and Jordan not to go around telling everyone straight away, and Magnus is right when he says it would make our life easier. I would like to have someone I could talk too about this, especially someone that as experienced in a relationship, as I could probably use their help when it comes to this, as I am going in head first with no experience to back me up on.  
  
I look down to see Magnus watching me for my reaction. It's clear that he wants to tell Maia and Jordan, and I guess I do too as it one of the best choices of people to tell. Magnus is too close to Ragnor and Catarina, not that Ragnor would care much, but Catarina would probably be on Isabelle levels about this whole thing. I also don't want Isabelle or Jace knowing just yet as they are too close to me, they would be too involved and I just need this time with him, I want to be able to enjoy the start of our relationship without annoying siblings surrounding us.  
  
Maia and Jordan would respect our space. "I think we should, it's what you want and I want it too," I say before kissing him on the forehead. "And if we tell them, you actually get to cuddle with me in the car." Magnus' eyes light up at that.  
  
"Then what are we waiting for! to the car." Magnus almost runs out of the room, pulling me along behind him as I frantically try to hold onto my bag that wasn't sitting right on my shoulder with Magnus pulling me like he was.  
  
"Goodbye Alec, goodbye Magnus... come home in one piece!" Mom calls as we pass by the kitchen door towards the front of the house.  
  
"Bye-" I just manage to call out before I'm being pulled out of the front door, it swinging shut behind me. "Magnus, slow down, they're not going anywhere without us," I say before pulling him to a stop before picking up a slower pace towards the car, not bothering to hide that Magnus and I were holding hands, knowing that if they cared all that much about it, then they would find out soon enough anyway.  
  
"Fine. I'm just happy, that's all." He sighs then pulls his own bag further up onto his shoulder.  
  
"I'm happy too, you know that and I'm super glad that you are happy too but we don't need to rush this, let's not make this a big deal," I say to him as we get to the back of the car, either Maia or Jordan opens the trunk from the front, allowing us to put our bags in there alongside their own.  
  
"I won't, as much as I would love to make a big deal about it, I know that's not something you would enjoy." He kisses my cheek quickly before getting into the car behind Jordan.  
  
Even him picking that seat shows that he had me in mind. He knows that I wouldn't be able to sit behind Jordan with my long legs so it would be best if I sat behind Maia, who was quite small, meaning she had her chair pulled forward until her feet were resting on the dash, giving me enough room to be comfortable.  
  
Once I get in the car, Magnus is quick to poke his head in the space between Maia and Jordan, making Maia jump in her seat at the suddenness of his actions.  
  
"I have something to tell you and I would appreciate it if you refrained from telling anyone else." He states calmly, "Can you please do that, for me?" Maia glances at Jordan, both of them looking very confused and slightly worried.  
  
"As long as it won't get us killed. Then sure." Maia says then turns to look more fully at Magnus.  
  
"Okay, so ever since this morning, Alexander and I are now together." He states like it was the most boring thing in the world, I know that it was just him trying to not make a big deal out of it and I was thankful for it.  
  
Maia looks between the both of us. "Uh? was I not supposed to know that?" She asks, taking both Magnus and me aback. It seems that whilst she knew, Jordan didn't because he was looking quite surprised by the news.  
  
"How do you know?" Jordan asked his girlfriend, looking so puzzled that it was actually kind of funny. "Am I the only one who doesn't know... I thought he was with someone else yesterday." Jordan looks at me, and the way he worded it makes me seem like some sort of person who just sleeps around.  
  
"First date's don't count as being with someone. Alexander and I have felt something for each other, ever since we met really... and yes, Maia. How the hell do you know about this?" Magnus asks, whilst Maia just sits there looking at us like the answer was obvious.  
  
"Well. You did wait like 0.3 seconds after I left this morning before you were all over each other. I was surprised but I didn't know it was a big secret, I just figured I was the last to find out." Maia laughs at the flush that had most likely spread over my cheeks. I forgot that I was speaking to her right before Magnus kissed me, there was no way she could have missed that.  
  
Magnus leans forward and places a hand on her shoulder, suddenly looking very serious. "And who did you tell about it?" He asks, his voice low and slow. "Did you talk to anyone, ask anyone about us?" I look at Jordan, who is staring at the interaction with a confused look in his eyes.  
  
"Jeeze, calm down Magnus I didn't tell anyone. I'm not a gossip when it comes to other people's relationships, I know how much I like the privacy so I tend to give others the same. Does no one else seriously know about this?" She asks, eyes flicking between the both of us.  
  
Magnus sits back in his seat, taking my hand as he does so. I feel his thumb rubbing small circles into the back of it again and it feels nice, safe almost. It also reminds me that we are out of the hot water now, we have some people we can trust with our secret, whilst still having the time to ourselves. "No, you two and my Mom are the only people that know, because it's not been a long thing. That kiss you saw this morning was basically what started this whole thing- but Magnus was right, I have felt something for him since we met." I turn to smile at him, which he returns with one of his own.  
  
"But what about Jem?" Jordan asks, his face is looking less and less confused now that we are explaining everything to him.  
  
"Well, that was Catarina- she's and Isabelle are the only two people who know about my feelings for Magnus, and Cat hated seeing me so sad so she tried to set me up with Jem," Magnus looks slightly shocked at that new information, as he didn't know Catarina was the one who set me up with Jem. "She now feel's super guilty about it now," I add as an afterthought.  
  
Jordan scoffs slightly, "I bet she does." he shakes his head, then turns around to start the car. "She blames herself for things that aren't her fault, so if something is remotely her thought she won't forgive herself for a while so expect her to try and make things up to you for a while."  
  
Maia turns to nod her head at me, "Oh for sure, make sure you're ready for that." She agrees then turns to make sure her seatbelt was on properly before Jordan got off of my street onto a busier road.  
  
"Great." I groan before letting my head fall forward to rest on the back of Maia's head rest. The last thing I needed was Catarina feeling bad about this, and I have a feeling that no matter how much I tell her it's okay, she's not going to believe me. Not until she finds out that what she did drove Magnus and me together in the end.  
  
"Aww doesn't worry Darling, I've dealt with Cat since we were little kids, I'll be there to help you." Magnus pulls me back to sit next to him. At some point he had moved from the seat behind Jordan, to the seat in the middle, his legs thrown up onto the spare patch of the seat.  
  
"I'm sure you will, I've learned not to doubt you remember?" I say low enough for just him to hear me. Sure I know that both Jordan and Maia are aware but it doesn't mean I'm going to flaunt it, especially not when I'm having talks like this with Magnus.  
  
Magnus looks at me as if he were proud. "I'm glad you remember that it's going to come in handy one day." He hums then rests his head on my shoulder as the car makes it's way to the countryside that surrounds the town we're in. As the position we were in was not very easy for cuddling in, I just take his hand in mine, bringing it to rest on my lap, I then lay my head on top of his.  
  
Magnus yawns slightly and I know then that for the majority of this drive he is going to be sleeping. I guess I will be too since I didn't get much sleep last night either. So I nestle closer to him before closing my eyes, and I'm guessing I'm asleep straight away.  


* * *

  
Maia is the one who wakes me up, we seemed to have arrived at Magnus's cabin. Wow, I guess I really was tired enough to sleep the whole way.  
  
"God, you guys were boring road trip companions, we hardly even got out of town before you were both out." She comments as she gets out of the car. I crack my neck slightly before looking down a Magnus, make that a very adorable sleepy Magnus. I can't help but reach out to push back a strand of hair that had fallen in front of his face. I'm just trying to soak up as much time with him as I could, romantically at least, before we go inside.  
  
"Mm, I don't want to go in Alexander, I want to stay here with you." Magnus gets out of his seatbelt before sleepily crawling into my lap are wrapping his arm around my neck, hiding his face there too.  
  
"I want that too Mags, but you know someone will question us sleeping out in the car," I say with a small laugh, one of my hands coming to curl into his hair, the softly styled strands were already messed from our earlier kissing and the nap we just took.  
  
Magnus sighs then pull back to look at me. "You're always going to be the voice of reason in this relationship, aren't you?" he asks, eyebrow raising.  
  
I nod my head once. "One of us has to be." smiling softly at him then pulling him into one of the last kisses that we'll probably have for a while.  
  
It's not rushed like it was before, this was soft, slow and just sweet. Really it was just me showing that even though I felt we needed to keep this a secret for a while, it doesn't mean that I don't feel for him.  
  
"C'mon you two, someone's coming out of the house," Maia whispers to us through the open doorway. It makes the both of us jump away from each other, Magnus jumping to the other side of the car before composing himself and getting out like he had been there the whole time.  
  
"Magnus!" I get out of the car to see a girl I didn't know, running down the pathway to yank Magnus into a large hug.  
  
And I will deny any feeling of jealousy that bubbles up inside me.  
  
"Alec? can you help me please." Maia asks then holds out mine and Magnus' bags. I sling one bag over each shoulder then I hold the other two in my hands, gladly taking Magnus' things whilst he spoke to his friend.  
  
 I walk over to where he was standing with the girl. "Sorry-" I start, interrupting the conversation they were having. "-I didn't mean to interrupt, but I just wanted to know where you wanted your things?" I say, directing the question to Magnus.  
  
"Oh, Alexander don't be silly," Magnus goes to take his things but I simply smile and shake my head.  
  
"I got them, it's fine- you're having a conversation." I smile at the girl, who smiles back at me.  
  
"What a gentleman we have here Magnus." She winks at him before looking at me, taking one of the bags from my hand. "Hi I'm Helen, what's your name?" she asks me before motioning for me to follow behind her.  
  
"It's Alec, nice to meet you, Helen... I'm guessing you've already met my siblings in there?" I ask as she holds the door open for us with her free hand. "Isabelle and Jace?"  
  
"Oh! they're your siblings, I can see with Isabelle but not Jace." She looks me up and down.  
  
Someone walks past us and swipes the other bag from my hand, leaving me with only the two on my shoulders. "I'm adopted." It was Jace, I see when he walks off into another room. "Alec your in here with Simon and I!" Jace calls out behind him, making me stop and turn to Magnus, a slightly horrified look on my face.  
  
"I didn't plan the sleeping arrangements darling, so I'm afraid you'll just have to share a room with repressed and sexually frustrated." Magnus laughs before heading towards a flight of steps. "Helen dear would you mind swapping bags with Alexander, I believe that bag belongs to him and those that he has to belong to me," Magnus calls as he heads up the steps, and I will also deny that I allowed my eyes to linger as he went up.  
  
Helen hands me the bag whilst I awkwardly try and shuffle the bags off of my shoulder and over to her. "Thanks, and it was nice to meet you," I say to her again.  
  
"Same to you Alec, you should find the kitchen and meet my girlfriend, I think you would like her." Helen smiles then follow Magnus upstairs.  
  
I feel a slight weight fall off my shoulders now I know that she had a girlfriend. It's not that I don't trust her or Magnus, I just think it's because I don't know her, that was the problem.  
  
I place my bag down next to the door of the room I'd be sleeping in. I could hear that there were two people inside of it already, and I swear that I would be avoiding it like the plague until Simon and Jace work out their issues. I'll only use it to sleep and change in.  
  
I follow the sound of voices towards the kitchen, there were the telltale sounds of alcohol bottles clinking together, meaning that I was either going to get very drunk for the first time, or I was going to be looking after a house of drunk teenagers who are all probably going to end up having sex in the house.  
  
Once in the kitchen I find that the people in there are Catarina Lydia, and who must be-  
  
oh my god, that's Aline!  
  
My best friend from when I was younger, the one who moved away once everyone found out she was dating her friend- Helen... I know her now! how didn't I see it before?  
  
Helen Blackthorn!  
  
She was in my classes! she is so different now, that's how I didn't recognize her, and I'm guessing I must have changed a lot also if she didn't recognize me.  
  
"Aline?" I say, making everyone in the kitchen stop and look at me.  
  
"Alec, I didn't know you had-" Catarina starts but she is cut off when Aline suddenly strides across the kitchen and pulls me into a hug.  
  
I hug her back, lifting her smaller frame off of the ground slightly. "Alec Lightwood! what the hell it's been so long! look at you... who would've thought I used to be taller than you!" She pulls back and I set her down on the floor.  
  
"Wait? you know Alec?" Lydia asks, placing down a bowl she was holding. It was as if her putting it down would make her understand this more.  
  
I look back over to them just as Aline answers. "Totally, I've known him since we were just kids, Helen too. We used to go to school together in New York before our parents moved us here after we came out." Aline looks uncomfortable speaking about that last part.  
  
"Aw, just like what Alec did when he came here!" Lydia coos.  
  
"Wait, what? You finally- Alec Lightwood, the guy so far in the closet he even bypassed Narnia, finally came out?" She asks, pulling me over to three barstools that were across the counter from the rest of the girls. "I don't know if I should believe you or not." She jokes then nudges me with her elbow.  
  
I smile at her little jab because I know that when she knew me there was never a possibility that I would've come out. There still probably wouldn't a chance if Dad hadn't had heard Isabelle and I. Even though I've never been as happy as I am now that I'm out, what with the new friends, better family life, and my new secret boyfriend. I never thought I could have this.  
  
"Yeah, it's all thanks to Isabelle-"  
  
"Holy shit! Isabelle- I didn't even recognize her when she said hello, she's so beautiful wow." Aline looks like everything is in technicolor right now. "Sorry, go on." She sits back against the seat as the others lean against the counter to hear the story of my coming out.  
  
I feel slightly nervous under their gaze, hoping they're not hoping for a happy story. "Well, yeah. Isabelle found out about me, I don’t even know how I managed to hide it from her for so long, but she found out and once when she managed to get me to talk about a couple of boys in her year in school… well, we didn’t know Dad was outside my room and he heard it all.” I can see Aline’s face tense slightly as she is the only one who knew what my father could be like from time to time.

“Did he not take it well?” Catarina asks, a sad look appearing on her face as she begins to connect the dots.

“Not at all, I’ve never heard some of the horrible things that came out of his mouth. He no longer sees me as his son, he thinks I’m disgusting for being what I am… “you can see why I didn’t want him or anyone to ever find out about me.” I look down at the counter before I continue speaking. “If it weren’t for that day then I’m sure I wouldn’t have ever told anyone,” I add.

“Oh, Alec… I didn’t think Robert would be that bad- what about Maryse?” Aline asks as she pulls me into a one-armed hug. It seemed to be the only comfort she could offer as she didn’t know what I was going through, both her parents and Helen’s were completely okay with them being gay.

I feel relief at no longer telling the hardest part of the story. “Mom’s been amazing… it’s been hard on her, she was home when Robert started cursing me to the high heavens- she didn’t agree with what he was saying, she still saw me as her little boy. It was also the little push she needed to finally leave him after years of him cheating on her…”

“NO WAY!” Aline gasps in horror. “What an asshole! How could he do that to Maryse? She’s the best person ever?” Aline looks like she could punch someone, and I don’t doubt that she would punch my father if she did see him right now.

“Yeah, she decided that it was time to finally go through with a divorce, but Robert didn’t make it easy and tried to take Isabelle, Jace, and Max from her- “

“Who?"

Aline looks confused and for a moment I don’t understand why, but then I remember that she moved before Mom had Max and before Jace was adopted.

“Oh, Mom had another kid, my little brother Max. You might have met Jace, he’s here and he’s my adopted brother, we got him when he was ten.” I tell her and a little awed look appears on her face.

“I can’t wait to meet them- and yes, I want to meet this Max. If it means I get to hang out with you again, I also want to see Maryse.” She fixes me with a stern look as if asking me to argue with her. Like I was going to do that, she was one of the only friends I had for a while- I had none after she and Helen left. Like I was going to give them up again.

“Of course. But yes. Dad tried to take them away from her, but she won because the judge heard what happened between Dad and me, and lucky for us, she had a gay son that she was super proud of. That and Dad was so wrong and didn’t deserve to have his kids. After the stressful case, Mom decided that she wanted to move out of New York as she never liked it.” I motion to the people around me. “I’m so glad we did… this is the first time I’ve actually had friends, that weren’t Isabelle and Jace since you and Helen moved away.” I tell her and I notice then that it looks like she is about to cry.

“Your poor soul. Don’t you worry Ally, I won’t be leaving you again and none of these other amazing people will either- god I can’t wait for Helen to see you again.” Aline kisses my cheek before standing up.

“I actually spoke to her outside. I don’t think either of us realized who each other was at first.”  I say with a small laugh, because thinking back on it now, I don’t know how I didn’t realize that it was her, she looks almost the same as she did the last time I saw her.

“How- you know what, I can fully see the both of you managing to do that.” She shakes her head with an exasperated smile.

A voice from the doorway interrupts the kitchen conversations.

“Hey, why are you all hiding in here? Everyone’s in the lounge waiting for you guys.” It was Simon.

He was looking slightly worn down, a little more tired than he looked at school, and his hair was slightly messy. He was pale enough for me to want to be worried about him.

“We’re coming now Simon, c’mon Ally.” Aline takes my hand then pulls me from the room, past Simon who refuses to meet my eyes for some reason.

I wonder what I did for him to look at me this way.

I know for sure that it won’t be anything good.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen:

 

Simon was right, everyone seemed to be waiting for us in the lounge. They were all in various types of comfort clothes. I guess that this wasn’t going to be as extravagant of a night as I first thought, I mean I haven’t been to any parties but I’m guessing that the giant jumper and sweatpants that Clary is wearing, is not usually the type of thing someone would wear to a party.

“There you are big bro, making friends already?” Isabelle calls over from where she sits in Jace’s lap, both drinking some weird orange drink that I’m just choosing not to question. If they keep it away from me, I’ll be fine.

“I’m not so sure that we just became friends Little Bizz.” Aline winks at her.

Isabelle sits bolt upright in Jace’s lap, Jace himself just looks confused at the name Isabelle was just called. He would, as it was Isabelle’s nickname from Aline ever since one Halloween. Isabelle had decided to go as a queen bee and was delighted when Aline took her completely serious, unlike others who thought that it would’ve been better for her to just be a princess.

“Oh- crap, I didn’t realize before! Omg Aline!” Isabelle shoots up from her seat, almost throwing her drink into Jace’s hand as she hurries over to yank Aline into a hug.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t recognize you either!” Aline hugs her back tightly. “You’re so different now, just like your brother.” Aline comments, “At least you’re still smaller than me.” She seems a little bitter about my height and I love it.

“Anyone thinks think they’re missing out on something?” Clary asks the room. I look up to see most the room staring at the scene, none of them understanding what was going on, even Helen.

“Aline and Alec were like best friends as kids, before Aline and her girlfriend left- oh! Helen?” Isabelle turns to the girl, who seems to finally be realising what is happening.

“Wait this is little Alec Lightwood?” Helen asks as she eyes me up and down. “No freaking way.” Helen gets up from where she sat next to Magnus. I allow my attention to sway to him for a moment and I see that he is watching the scene like it was the most famous play he had ever seen.

“I know, right? Where did this come from? Isabelle is tiny! Sorry Bizz, I seriously hope your brother is not as tall as you.” Aline raises an eyebrow at me.

“Max? no he’s only twelve.” I answer.

“How have I never met these people?” Jace asks, drinking from both drinks in his hands. Isabelle glares when she sees him drinking her drink but he doesn’t seem to care. In fact he doesn’t seem to be caring about much right now, considering how bedraggled he looks when usually he takes great pride in himself.

He looks to be about as okay as Simon does. It’s going to be hell sharing a room with them, maybe I can just ask to bunk with Isabelle, just to give them their space.

“They left before you arrived.” I tell him, sharing a frown with Isabelle, but for different reasons.

I really want to just go over there, to take that alcohol away from him and replace it with warm milk before sending him to bed for a long nap. I know that wouldn’t go down well with him, perhaps I’ll just trick him into bed… not in the way that I just made it seem.

“Oh, I never really heard about them, until now I just figured I was the first friend you had.” He jokes before taking a rather large gulp of his drink.

From the side of my eye I notice Simon, who had followed in behind us with the rest of the girls, start like he wanted to also snatch the drink out of Jace’s hand. I feel for the poor guy, it’s so obvious he wants to care for Jace, to make sure he knows he is wanted, it’s just Jace being Jace and not letting people in.

“Slow down there, blondie.” Magnus gets up and swoops the second fuller drink out of Jace’s hand. “You already look like you’re about to keel over, I don’t need you throwing up too.” As he turns away from Jace to give me a reassuring smile. “Plus, I can tell you are worrying your brother sick.” I suddenly realise why Magnus got up to deal with Jace.

He was doing it for me.

“Not just his brother. C’mon Aline, Helen, we have lots to catch up on.” Isabelle pulls them away, to a private part of the room. Leaving me standing next to a wrecked looking Simon who was sending almost heartbroken looks to Clary, who just looked lost for her friend.

Magnus approaches us both. “Simon, darling. Not to sound rude but you honestly look like shit.” He comments before resting a hand on Simon’s neck, making the hurt boy look up at him. “Go rest. No one is going anywhere right now.” Magnus says to him and even I could tell it was a loaded comment.

“But- “Simon looks pleadingly at Magnus then at me.

“We’ll look out for him, don’t worry.” I say softly to him. Simon looks up as if shocked for a moment that I saw right through him and new what the problem was.

He sags after a moment then gives one last look at Magnus before turning and leaving the room.

“Hey. Where’s Lewis going?” Ragnor calls over to us as Simon closes the lounge door.

Magnus turns to look at him. “Never you mind, Ragnor Fell.” Magnus sounds like a stern parent. “Alexander, come with me. I’ve heard you’re quite the cook and I think it’s time to make some food…” Magnus turns to give Maia a secret look.

She understands straight away. Now is the time to distract anyone from bothering us, and to warn us if anyone decides to come our way. She gives us a discreet nod after a moment.

“Yes! Alec cooking is the best cooking.” Jace cheers before making his way over to the small makeshift bar that’s been set up on a counter in the corner.

I go over to stop him but Magnus just puts a hand on my arm to make me stop. Trying to stop Jace is only going to make him worse, but it doesn’t mean I’m not going to be watching him like a hawk. I notice then that Clary is looking at me, I meet her eyes and she gives me a small smile and a nod towards Jace, a silent promise that she’ll make sure that he stays safe.

Magnus takes my hand, the one that is most hidden from the others in the room, even though no one is really paying any attention to us anyway. It’s hard to believe that it’s so early in the day and some of them are already drinking.

I turn away from them all as Magnus pulls me out of the room. “God, you would think we had the trouble dating life, what with the two biggest dicks in the world- “

“Please say you are not going to end that sentence there?” I comment when Magnus stops for a moment. He just laughs at the flush that is appearing on my face.

“I was just teasing you darling.” Magnus hugs me around the waist as we enter the kitchen. “It’s surprisingly easy and fun to do.” He kisses the back of my neck once before letting me go.

“You’re cruel.” I comment before making my way to the fridge to see just exactly there was to eat here. Call my boring but I want to make sure that everyone has had something to eat, considering that they are going to be drinking, I don’t want anyone getting hurt, especially when two of those people are my brother and sister.

Magnus snorts slightly at that comment. “Darling, that’s something you don’t need to worry about. I wouldn’t be cruel to you, as you are the one that gives me kisses and calls me beautiful.” Magnus opens a cabinet to rifle through the food in there. I don’t know how they have so much food here, especially as Magnus doesn’t live here. Perhaps he had food ordered or something, he was always thinking ahead.

“Keep teasing me and you won’t get those kisses.” I take my turn to tease him.

“Oh really?” Magnus pulls out some pasta from the cabinet then turns to look at me.

“Yup.” I say as I pull out some ingredients for sauce as it seems that we are going to be having pasta. I might see if Magnus has any ingredients to make garlic bread.

“We’ll see how long that lasts darling.” He walks over to the cooker and turns it on so he could boil the pasta. 

“What do you mean by that?” I ask as I join him over by the cooker. He turns to look at me once I approach.

“You enjoy my kisses too much, even though you have only had so little of them, you won’t be able to resist them now that you’re free to take them.” He holds out his hands for some of the ingredients that I am struggling to keep in my hands.

We both move over to one of the counters, Magnus stopping on the way to grab a chopping board.

I think about what Magnus said and I find that it’s true. I wouldn’t want to hold out on kissing him, especially with us having to hide it from everyone anyway. I’m not going to hold out whenever we have time to spend with each other.

“Fine. You’re right.” I say. “I just can’t resist you it seems.” I smirk down at him, turning until he is pressed between me and the counter behind him.

Magnus looks up at me and matches my smirk. “I have been told that I am pretty irresistible.” He winks then I take him by surprise by leaning down to kiss next to his ear.

“If anyone calls you that again, I won’t be responsible for my actions…” I say and Magnus laughs breathily.

“I like this slightly possessive side of you Alexander, even though I have no idea where you have been hiding it.” He jokes before wrapping his arms around my neck.

“I have many surprises… comes with spending seventeen years in the closet.” I say with a small laugh.

“I do hope that you intend of showing me said surprises?” Magnus asks, the heat from before has now slipped away and I’m just glad to be able to hold him again.

To anyone else, Magnus and I were moving too fast but to me it just all seems so natural. I feel like I had been dating him for longer than less than a day. I guess the past couple of days have just made me feel so much closer to him, that and we just work so well together.

“I think I could be persuaded, but I’m yet to make up my mind.” Magnus just laughs slightly at that before leaning up to kiss my nose.

“Well it looks like I have my work cut out for me later, but for now I think we should get started before we have a small army of hungry teenagers running in on us.” He points out before slipping under my arms so he could go back over to the fridge.

He’s right. We don’t need someone coming in looking for the food we said we’d be cooking, only to find me cornered up with Magnus talking about something mildly suggestive.

So, with that thought in mind, I put my thoughts to the task at hand.

By the time, we had finished making dinner, Simon had joined everyone again, looking no better than he did before. In fact, I think he might possibly look even worse than before he went to rest. I’m beginning to doubt that he even did much resting.

After Magnus had called everyone through to the kitchen to eat, Clary pulled Magnus and I to the side.

“What is it Biscuit?” Magnus asks when he spots the worried look on her face. I’m now worried because of her, the only thing I knew she would have to talk to me about is Jace.

“Look, I thought I’d warn you before he starts talking about it but Jace has invited one of his many hook ups.” Clary tells us.

My mouth falls open slightly and for a moment I turn to Magnus who looks slightly annoyed.

I then look over to Simon and suddenly the reason why he looks worse than he was is probably because Jace bragged about this at some point. I’m suddenly beginning to become angry at Jace.

Sure, I know he has his problems and it’s making things harder for him but there is no need for him to be treating people like he is now. I know he has issues when it comes to communication, but inviting some stranger to Magnus’ house, when Jace and Magnus don’t even know each other that well.

It’s just a pretty shitty thing for him to do. Especially when we are all so new in this group of people, they are the ones that welcomed us into their group. It’s not like they need us, they were find before, so Jace shouldn’t be treating them like this.

I can clearly see that his behaviour is annoying the hell out of Clary and Maia. Both are the closest to Simon, and it’s easy to tell that they are angry that their friend is being hurt like this. I would feel if it was like this for my sister or any of my closest friends.

“Did he now?” Magnus’s voice is tight and controlled, as if he was trying to be careful of what he said, and it’s probably because of me that he is doing it.

“Yeah… but it’s not just anyone, he told me what her name was and I don’t think you are going to be very happy.” She whispers to Magnus, her eyes wide and sad, as if there was a hidden story behind them.

“Who.” He states, his voice is so clipped that it makes Clary flinch.

“Camille- “

The words are barely out of her mouth before Magnus is turning to Jace.

“Get out.” He states suddenly.

My mouth drops open in shock again, completely not expecting Magnus to throw Jace out of his house.

Who the hell is Camille and what did she do to make Magnus act this way at a mere mention of her name.

“Excuse me?” Jace asks, looking up from his phone.

“Get. Out.” Magnus is shaking slightly.

“What’s your problem?” Jace pushes his chair back roughly, coming up to stand face to face with Magnus.

“It’s bad enough that you think you have the right to invite someone into my home, without my permission… but what’s worse is the bitch who you invited here.” Magnus is seething with anger.

“Magnus, calm down plea- “

“Clarissa. I don’t think you understand.” Magnus refuses to move his gaze from Jace. “This idiot here invited Camille Belcourt to my home. The girl that used me, took advantage of me to make herself feel good. The girl that also almost manipulated Simon into bed with her- forced herself on him even though he so clearly didn’t want that- you think I’m just going to let it slide that this child is so arrogant to think that he has any right here.” My body had gone cold about halfway through Magnus’ rant.

Someone had tried to force themselves on Simon… and that is the one person Jace brought here to try and hide his feelings for Simon himself. I can now see why he would be so angry.

To my absolute horror, Jace starts to laugh before reaching over to chug down whatever is left of his bright green drink, I didn’t even know something could be that colour. “Please. She told me you would say that. You need to get over it Magnus, it happened years ago. Stop being such a baby.” He laughs.

“Jace!” Isabelle gasps then stands up from her chair. “You can’t say- “

“What? I can’t say what?... I don’t know this guy, he has no effect on my life. He can’t judge me for this- not when he’s disgusting enough to get it up for guys.” Jace sneers at Isabelle, who’s eyes suddenly fill with tears.

“That’s enough!” Simon smacks his hand against the table. “Jace you need to leave. You honestly think you could say that in front of us? Did you seriously believe that you were right here?” Simon looks as bad as I feel.

In fact, I’m not sure I really feel anything right now. The words Jace said keep coming to my mind.

“Disgusting."

He called Magnus disgusting because he liked guys, but he seemed okay with me. He had never said anything before this… why would he- had he felt like this the whole time.

“Fuck it, I’m tired of pretending… I should’ve never even come here- not just here. I should’ve stayed in New York with Robert. At least he is sane enough to know that this is all bullshit, he knows what’s wrong with this.” Isabelle was sobbing now but I couldn’t find it in me to care.

I felt my world beginning to crash around me.

My brother. My best-friend. The only friend I had for a long time, now finds me disgusting- he probably hates me. He had been lying this whole time… he agreed with my father about all of this.

“Get out.” I speak without really feeling it.

My voice is thick with something that I cannot place. “Get the fuck out of here.” My eyes flick up to meet his for a moment before I stalk closer to him, my hands coming up to shove him back before I could even process the idea.

“Like I would stay here with you fag- “I felt my knuckles split with the force that my fist created when it met his face. I felt it before I even registered hitting him.

“Alec!” Someone is grabbing onto me, holding my hand tightly, pressing something against the blood running down my fingers.

Isabelle is suddenly in front of my face, whilst someone sits behind me, stroking my hair.

Something wasn’t right though. Everything around me was too soft and warm, not like the kitchen I was just in.

“Hey, Alec? Are you coming back to us now?” Isabelle strokes a hand down my cheek, her eyes tearful and worried.

“Izzy?” I ask, trying to get my thoughts in order

“Yes Alec, it’s me… we’re right here.” She lets out a relived sigh, tears falling from her eyes. 

“Where’s Magnus?” I ask her, no longer worried about hiding that I need him more than anyone else.

“I’m right here darling.” Magnus’ voice comes from behind me and I realise that he was the one that was holding me, his arms around me whilst he presses kisses to my head.

I relax into him before suddenly tensing as the memory of what happened comes to me.

“He hates me.” I say quietly.

Isabelle looks suddenly devastated. “Oh Alec- oh no… he just- “she stops when she can’t come up with a reason for the way Jace acted.

“This is all my fault.” I feel panic rising up inside me and it’s suddenly hard to breathe, “we’d all be so happy if I just wasn’t- “

“Gay? Alec. You don’t fucking listen to him. I swear to god! He was wrong- so wrong. You don’t listen to a word he said at all because I will refuse to let you. Not when you are so happy now.” Isabelle’s hands come to frame my face, shaking it slightly with the intensity of her words.

“But- “

“Alec.” Isabelle stops me. “We all love you for you. You’re my big brother, I don’t want to see you this unhappy so please don’t listen to Jace- listen to me and listen to Magnus- oh! And we’ll be talking later about what’s going on here and how I didn’t know- but only when you are feeling better.” She winks at me and it’s enough to make me laugh slightly.

“There we go. That’s so much better, keep laughing please Alexander.” Magnus holds me closer.

“I agree with him.” Isabelle says then lays down so her head is resting on my chest.

“I’ll try… but can someone tell me what happened. The last thing I remember was punching Jace.” I say before looking at my hand to see that the split knuckles had been cleaned but they were still red and inflamed.

Magnus kisses my head again. “You knocked him out. After that you had a major panic attack- I was so scared we would have to take you to hospital- it was terrible.” Both Isabelle and Magnus hold me closer.

“We got you to calm down, well Magnus did by shocking everyone in the room.” Isabelle comments. “He saw on some teen show that kissing someone is a good way to make them hold their breath, especially if said people had feelings for each other, so out of the blue he just kissed you in front of everyone.” I feel my face heat up in a blush.

“One of my proudest moments, kissing someone breathless.” Magnus jokes.

“It did calm you down but you seemed to just disappear in front of our eyes. It was scary, so we just took you in here to let you come back to yourself in your own time.” Isabelle sounds tired as she tells me this.

“I’m fine, Isabelle. But how is Simon?” I ask, more worried about him then me. Not only did Jace say those horrible things about gay people, but he said it in front of Simon who he knew had feelings for him.

“Always worried about everyone but yourself.” Isabelle says then sighs. “Clary and Maia are in another room with him, having some intense bonding and stereotypical breakup moments involving Ice cream.” She murmurs.

Magnus’s hand continues to stroke my hair as she explains this to me.

“I just- “words fail me as I try to come up with words to describe how I felt right now.

Isabelle just nods her head. “Jordan and Maia are driving him home now. He was so drunk before, was drinking absinth almost from the bottle. I don’t know how he’s not dead, but I called ahead and told Mom what happened.” I let out a long breath

“What did she say?” I ask.

“She cried.” Magnus says. “She cried and blamed it on your father. She wanted to come here to get you but she then saw that it would be better for her to see Jace first, I promised to call her whenever you came back.” He tells me.

“I should call her.” I say around a yawn.

“We’ll do it, your panic attack took a lot out of you, I think you need a nap.” Isabelle sits up and reaches for her phone.

The idea of a nap sounds amazing right now, but part of me needs reassurance. “You won’t leave, will you?” I ask before turning around slightly to look at Magnus.

“Not if you don’t want me too.” He promises before moving us down on the bed more, allowing him to lie down too.

“Please. Stay.” I ask before closing my eyes and resting my head on his chest like Isabelle did to me moments before.

With Magus there, it allowed me to fall asleep without too many thoughts of Jace and how I just lost my best friend and brother.

That and his whispered promise that he would never leave me.

With that fresh in my mind, I could fall asleep almost straight away.   


	20. Chapter Twenty

 

**Chapter Twenty:**

Jace-

Each time I wake up this way, I regret ever making the choice to drink the night before. I never even remember why I started drinking half of the time, including right now.

The last thing I remember happening was arriving at Magnus’ cabin, but that couldn’t be right considering I am in my own room at home. Did I seriously manage to forget an entire weekend? How much did I drink?

With a large groan, I sit up to see that my room is in various stages of being packed. That was weird and it clearly wasn’t me who done this as I am usually a very neat person. Also, why would I be packing up my room? I can’t recall knowing about a trip somewhere.

I’m just about to get up to find someone who could tell me what was going on when the door opens and a very distressed Maryse comes in, and she was holding two flatpack boxes in her hands, ones that were clearly left over from the move here.

She stops in her tracks when she sees me sitting up. Her eyes change from distressed and tired, to fierce anger in seconds.

“What’s going on? Where are we going?” I ask her, pushing myself up on the bed even more.

“We are not going anywhere, Jonathan. But you are.” She drops the boxes down on the floor. “There is no way I’m letting someone like you live under my roof. Not with Alec here, I can’t imagine anything worse for him than coming home to see you, especially after everything you have done.” She walks to my wardrobe and starts yanking everything out. “You are going back to Robert, just like what you wanted.” She almost snarls.

Her words jog my memories back from last night. Everything that I had planned to do seemed to work. I made them all want to stay away from me. I managed to hurt them enough that I lost them.

Good.

“Thank you,” I mumble to her, without looking up to see the rage in her eyes. I so wished to tell her that this is not as bad as it seems.

I absolutely did not mean anything that I said last night. I don’t think Alec or Magnus or S-Simon… were disgusting because they liked guys. I guess it would be hypocritical of me.

It took me some time to come to terms with it, but now I know, especially after seeing the pain on his face last night. I was falling hard and a little too fast for Simon Lewis.

But I now had to get over the fact that I just lost him. I lost him and my best friend and brother. None of them will ever want to see me again… and that’s okay, if they are happy. I don’t have to be happy if they are.

“I can’t believe you. I’ve never been more disgusted in my life.” Maryse sounds like she is moments away from crying. “How could you do that to Alec? You know all that he has been through and how hard everything has been for him. So why the hell would you pretend to care about him? To pretend that you loved him and would be there for him? What kind of sick game are you playing Jace?” She turns around to look at me, holding onto one of my old football shirts from when I was a kid, she refused to let me throw it out because it held memories.

I open my mouth to answer her, but I find that I couldn’t even come up with a lie to tell her. I couldn’t think of anyway someone would do what I was pretending I did. I also couldn’t pretend to not love Alec. He is- was the first friend I had in this world. A whole ten lonely years ended up with me meeting one of the best people in the world… and I just hurt him, I hurt him so much just so I could protect him.

Maryse is suddenly coming closer to me and at first I don’t know why, but then I realized, shockingly, that for the first time since I was a child, I was crying.

I cover my face quickly, trying to hide the fact that I just started sobbing like a child who fell and scraped his knee.

Maryse sits next to me on the bed, although it seems a little hesitant as she is more hovering rather than sitting. She rests a hand on my arm. “Talk to me Jace, tell me what’s happening and why you are doing this.” She says softly and it’s enough to break me.

I hurt her family, became a stain on her life, yet she still tries to care for me when she sees me upset. I really didn’t deserve to be here.

Maryse pulls me close to her and allows me to ugly cry into her shoulder. Her hand coming to stroke through my messy clump of hair. “Oh, Jace. Please tell me what’s going on? I don’t like seeing you like this.” She sounds close to tears herself.

“She’s going to tell them!” I sob into the material of her shirt. “I- I don’t want them to know how pathetic I am so- so I pushed them away… I wanted them to hate me so I didn’t- “I stop when it gets a little too hard to talk.

“Baby, you are scaring me, just please calm down and tell me what’s wrong- we’ll fix it together, whatever this woman is doing to you, I’ll fix it okay? I’ll tear her limb from limb if I had to.” Marys- Mom is rocking me back and forth as if I was a baby she was trying to get to sleep.

I take a long and deep breath, trying to clear away the lump in my throat so I could tell her what she- what Camille was doing to me.

“She- she. My father was not my real father.” I say, making Maryse pull back. “I always knew he wasn’t… but I just thought I was adopted, but I wasn’t- he stole me- I was kidnapped Mom.” I say to her, watching as her mouth drops open and her eyebrows shoot up to her forehead.

“My real Dad is here- and my mom, and Camille knew that… she also found out that I l-liked a guy… I really like this guy, but I wanted to prove that I didn’t so I tried- I tried to move past it, I slept with other women and I’m sorry- I’m so sorry I broke your trust in me… they were older, and it was too much and I hated myself every time I did it so I began to drink more and more, Camille thinks it’s funny- she makes a game out of it and said that if I tried to stop- if I tried to tell anyone, she would tell my real parents… would tell them how disgusting and worthless I know I am, she would also tell secrets- bad secrets she knows about S-Simon and Magnus, it would be my fault… so I said all those things so I would make them hate and forget me- so you would send me away, it meant that when Camille told my parents… I wouldn’t have to face their disappointment.” Mom was staring at me with the utmost shock on her face.

She had gone slightly green in the face. She was disgusted with me and I knew she was-

“That bitch!” Mom suddenly pushes up of the bed. “How dare she do that to my son. How _dare_ she!” Maryse suddenly starts opening the box’s that were already closed, pulling the contents back out of them. “Clean up your room then get some rest. I’m calling the police, them and Magnus and that other boy.” She states then is leaving the room.

She looks like she was on the path to war. Completely the opposite affect that I was expecting.

But maybe now it will be okay.

I would no longer have Camille over my head and I wouldn’t feel forced to sleep with these women… I really didn’t want to anymore- I wanted Simon.

I wanted him so badly, especially right now… that it physically hurt.

Suddenly I’m taking a chance.

I rifle through my bag from last night, finding my phone carelessly tossed in there, next to a bottle of body wash that had exploded on there, luckily not much had leaked onto my phone, meaning it still worked.

Without fully thinking it through, I find Simon’s name on my contact list, staring at it for a moment before pressing call.

I wasn’t expecting him to answer, I was just going to leave him a voicemail, explaining myself to him, so I was very surprised when he answers me.

 **“What the fuck do you want.”** He snaps into the phone, his voice clipped and harsh.

 _“I’m going to fix it… I’ll fix it I promise.”_ I say to him, making no sense to him but I just need him to know it will all be over soon.

 **“Fix what? I don’t have time for this Jace, why are you calling me… I don’t want to see or speak to you.”** This makes something throb painfully inside of me, but I ignore it.

 _“I’m sorry- I didn’t mean it… I didn’t mean what I said last night… you are not disgusting, I’m the disgusting one here. You- you are perfect… that’s why I needed to say it, I didn’t want to hurt you so I had to keep the secret.”_ I tell him, knowing that now I’m going to have to tell him what happened.

 **“Jace… what the hell are you on about, are you okay?”** A voice in the background shouts at him when he asks me that.

 _“You and Magnus are not the only ones Camille used…”_ I say as a way of explanation.

 **“…no- Jace no, please tell me she didn’t.”** Simon suddenly sounds tired.

_“I didn’t want to admit it… I didn’t want to like someone how I like you and she knew that- I was weak, I’m weak and disgusting because I allowed myself to sleep with other women because I was too afraid to face how I felt about you… and that hurt you. She was there- she was always there to laugh at me, to watch me drink until I could no longer think straight- “_

**“Jace, please stop thinking those things- don’t say those things about yourself.”** Simon interrupts me.

 _“I hurt you because I wanted to leave… I wanted Maryse to send me away so Camille couldn’t tell them. I didn’t want my parents to know how much of a train wreck I am.”_ I tell him. _“She held that over my head, she would tell my parents, who have yet to meet me, that I’m basically a whore.”_

**“Jace- “**

_“No… She was holding something else over my head. She knows something about you, and something about Magnus that she promised to leak if I told anyone this and I’m sorry- I’m so sorry that I caved and told you. I should’ve just left you alone, that was the plan, that’s why I said what I said last night… so you would hate me, so that Alec would hate me- it would be easier to leave if I knew you hated me.”_ I admit and I’m met with silence.

**“I’m coming to get you.” Simon states after a long moment. “I’m bringing you back here to explain yourself- to tell everyone what you told me.”**

_“No- I can’t Simon.”_

**“Too late.”** He states then hangs up the phone.

Well… I better prepare myself for another punch to the face.  


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

**Chapter Twenty-One:**

**Jace-**

I didn’t quite know what to do whilst I waited for Simon to arrive. I couldn’t do much since I still had a terrible hangover, and I was a little too dehydrated and just a tad over exhausted. Even though I slept when I got home, I don’t think I was fully resting, more like just passed out.

I decided to do what Mom told me to do, despite how much it hurt me everywhere to move. I had to stop several times just to stop myself from throwing up, but each time I stopped it just allowed me to think about everything that was done, and everything that I had ruined. I don’t even know why Simon is bothering with me, he knows the truth now so shouldn’t he be leaving me?

A knock on my bedroom door stops me in my tracks. I was busy trying hard to lean down so I could grab some items of clothing out of a box, the emptier it got, the harder it was for me to grab it. If I leaned down too fast or too much, it made the room spin.

I slowly turn around to see Simon standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, eyes angry.

I let the clothes fall out of my arms, internally groaning when I remember that I once again must fight to pick them back up.

“Well, you look a mess,” Simon states as he allows himself to look at me than the state of the place.

“Thanks,” I say without truly thinking it through. I close my eyes once I hear the words come out of my mouth, how stupid could I sound. “I mean, I know I look like shit.” I correct myself before opening my eyes. The bright like hurts behind my whole face and makes me slightly dizzy, but I try to fight it off, I’m supposed to be suffering, I can’t draw attention to myself, not when Simon is standing right there.

“I think thanks is appropriate, especially when you are looking like a mess is about the only nice thing I can think of saying to you right now.” He looks at the mess in the room. “Going somewhere?” He asks once his eyes fall on the boxes.

“Almost. I don’t think Maryse will let me go now.” I tell him, looking down at the box, once again hating myself when I move too quickly. I hide the wince of pain from Simon as I don’t want him to see me weak. I need to stay strong because I don’t deserve to have this, I shouldn’t have the chance to break down, not when I am the one who caused all this mess in the first place.

Simon hums slightly. “Damn, I think Alec was hoping you would.” He comments and it’s like a stab to the heart, I didn’t really stop to think about how Alec feels right now. Simon is right, he probably is wishing that I would just go away already. That I would just move away, perhaps I should… I mean I do still have my parents, perhaps they will take me.

I look down at the floor, refusing to meet Simon’s eyes.

“We should go. I must warn you though, you can tell everyone what you told me but it will only be a couple of people, neither Alec nor Isabelle want to see you. They refuse to even speak about you.” I feel a strange cold panic build in my stomach.

“This was a bad idea,” I say, the urge to throw up is getting even worse as I allow my anxiety to build. “I- I shouldn’t… maybe I should leave.” I nod to myself as tears begin to build in my eyes. “Yes… yes, I should leave. It’s what they want. It’s what Alec would want.” I lean down to pick up my clothes again, this time getting ready to put them back in the box, completely forgetting the pain for a moment, but being quickly reminded when the whole room begins to spin and I end up on my knees.

I don’t know how I have ended up on my knees though, I don’t really remember much about what I am doing or what led me to this point.

“Jace?” Someone is in front of me. “Jace! Hey, you need to breathe! C’mon- “Simon’s hand is on my chest. “Jace please just breath along with me.” I don’t know what is going on but I’m just so tired.

Suddenly I’m falling further to the ground, landing on my hands as I suddenly throw up.

That’s the last thing I remember before everything goes black.

* * *

 

When I next open my eyes, I find that I am in a large open white room. It’s only lit by one small light in the corner of the room. Letting me know that it was quite late at night. 

There is a horrible taste in my mouth, which is also super dry. I felt like I hadn’t drunk in days, leaving my tongue feeling like sandpaper and my lips feeling all cracked.

A prickling feeling in the back of my neck tells me that I am not alone in this room. Sitting up slightly I can see that there is more than just one other person in this room.

Mom is asleep on the chair next to me, she looks out of it, and I would hope she is, considering the large black bags under her eyes.

Over by the dark window, there is a small sofa, and on that sofa, sits three people, two of them which are fast asleep.

Isabelle, Max, and Alec.

And Isabelle was awake.

I wanted to groan, but that would alert her to my being awake, and that’s the last thing I need when I can clearly tell by the look on her face that she doesn’t want to be here right now.

She’s probably still angry at me, and Mom probably made her come here. I wish she didn’t do that, I don’t want Isabelle to be bothered with my issues. Just because I somehow ended up in the hospital, it doesn’t mean she should be forced to wait here until I woke up.

She hadn’t seen me yet and I was just thinking about slowly lying back down to try and sleep some more when a small movement of mine makes the bed creak.

Her head snaps over to where I’m sitting, eyes narrowed as she spots me awake.

I shift up the bed, as If that would protect me from the angry glare she is sending my way. God, I so wish Mom would’ve just left it alone, I could’ve been away back to New York right now and Isabelle could’ve enjoyed her life without-

“Get up.” Isabelle gently hits the side of Alec’s face, making him jump awake, she then leans down to grab her bag off the floor. She gives me one last look over before making her way out of the room. She can probably go now that she knows that I am awake, that’s probably what she promised Mom, that she would wait here until I woke up.

Now Alec and Max will leave.

I watch as Alec jerks away from Max as he wakes up abruptly, also making Max groan and open his eyes.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Max asks as he blearily blinks his eyes and tries to spot the reason as to why he was woken up so suddenly. His eyes stop on me and for a moment he just blinks, not really concentrating on anything, then he suddenly sits bolt upright. “Jace! Mom! Jace is awake!” Max pushes away from Alec and stumbles over to me.

His loud voice makes my head pound, and it’s only then that I realize how much pain I was in. It wasn’t just my head, almost my whole body hurt, but my throat was the worst. It felt like someone was running sandpaper through it.

“Max- “I try to get him to keep quiet but all that comes out is a rough groan that brought tears to my eyes because it hurt so much. I try to cough, but it only makes the pain worse.

Mom is suddenly standing beside me, hand on the back of my head, a white cup with a green straw was shoved in front of my face. I allow the straw to be placed in my mouth, quickly taking in a long pull of water.

I take a little too much and I end up spluttering around the straw.

“Easy sweetheart, take your time.” Mom strokes my head whilst Max clambers onto the bed, using the sleeve of his t-shirt to dry the water that had splashed up onto my face.

“Are you okay Jace?” Max asks, pushing his glasses back up around his tired eyes. God, how long had he been here and when was the last time he had a proper sleep.

I pull away from the straw when I had finished the water, the scratchy feeling in my throat has lessened slightly but it was still there.

“I- “testing the waters, I find that it was also easier to talk too. “What happened? Am I in the hospital?” I ask Mom, refusing to look anywhere other than her, the bed or Max.

She nods her head, looking worried. “You- when you were talking to that Simon boy, you had a seizure brought on by alcohol poisoning.” She closes her eyes as if she was fighting off a horrible thought. “You’ve been out for almost four days, you had two more seizures before they managed to flush everything out of your system, after that we just had to wait for your body to wake up naturally, but you were so exhausted that you took longer than usual.” She helps me lie back down against the bed, Max takes my hand tightly.

“Why are you so tired Jace?” He asks, his young mind not ready to really process everything going on here. Even my mind can’t process what had happened. I could’ve died if Simon wasn’t there, if he hadn’t come when he did then I would probably be dead right now.

Now I just feel ten times worse for everything that I done to him. There was no way I was going to be able to apologise for this, there was also no way for me to thank him.

“Not now, Max darling. You can tell me where your sister is though?” Mom asks as she looks around the room to Alec. I look down at the bed, not ready to hear whatever he was going to say.

Alec just laughs slightly. “She told me the morning we first got here that when he woke up she was going to force feed anything she could get her hands on. Something about him looking worse than death, so she’s probably out at the vending machines.”

Okay. Not what I was expecting, not what I was expecting at all.

“That sounds like Isabelle- “

“Why?” I ask her. I would ask Alec, but I still can’t make myself look at him.

Mom looks confused at the question. “Why, what Jace?” She asks, her hand still stroking my hair.

“Why would she want to get me food?” I ask her, before looking down at the bed.

Mom stares at me, confused for a moment then she sighs. “I know what this is about. Come on, Max let’s go find Isabelle.” Mom holds out her hand for Max, who takes it as he jumps down from the bed.

“Why- “I start to ask, wondering where she was going to go.

“You two need to talk. I told Alec everything that you told me, and why you did what you did. So, it’s time for you to both be adults and talk about this… I know that you mean too much to each other to lose this, over some sick woman.” Mom turns and stalks out of the room, with Max tailing behind her.

This leaves Alec and I, both completely silent. These are honestly the times that we need Isabelle here with us, forcing us to talk about our issues. It never goes far when it’s just the two of us, as neither of us really know how to talk to each other until prompted.

“Ugh! This is so stupid.” Alec suddenly exclaims, making me jump. I can see from under my lashes that he had begun to pace the room, but I refuse to look up at him properly. “Why do you have to be so… so-You?” He stops and stomps over to the bed. “Why can’t you just talk to me, Jace? I’m your brother. You are supposed to tell me things, especially when they are things that make you do this to yourself.” Alec’s voice sounds thick. “You have no idea how I felt when Mom called and said you were here… sure I was hurt and I was so angry with you, but that didn’t matter… not when I believed you had died!” Alec’s hands come to my face, forcing me to look up at him.

He is crying. His eyes were more tired than I had ever seen them and he had stress lines on his forehead. “Why did you let her do this to you? I wish you told me sooner, and not in this way… not in a way that made you hurt people.” Alec’s voice breaks at the end and I feel my own tears build. There was no way that Alec should still care for me.

“M’sorry.” I sob, wanting nothing more than to stop the pain that is showing so clearly in his face. “I didn’t want to say those things to you, I didn’t mean them- I would never think you are disgusting because your gay. I’m just so extremely happy that you are finally happy- that’s all I want and that’s why I did it.” I take a deep breath. “I didn’t want Camille to get to you like she got to Simon and Magnus. And you hating me made it easier to go.” Alec suddenly yanks me into a hug.

“I know Jace. Mom told me everything. I know you are hating yourself so much for what you said, and even though it hurt and it will take some time for us to heal… I forgive you.” Alec whispers slowly, as if weighing his words before he said them.

“You can’t… not when I hurt you and not when I hurt Magnus and Si- oh god, he hates me doesn’t he?” I ask, pulling back from Alec to look him in the eye. “Simon hates me?” I ask and the way Alec looks down slightly, I know that I was right.

“He doesn’t hate you. He’s thankful for what you have done… but he doesn’t want to forgive you, not yet… neither do the others.” He tells me and a cold chill goes through my body.

I move back against the headboard, pulling my knees up to my chest and hiding my face in my knees. Alec’s hands come to rest on my arms but I flinch away from him.

He may think that he is ready to forgive me, but I know he doesn’t really. He just thinks he has too because we’re family.

But I know better, I know how much he still wants to hate me.

It’s not until then that I realise, that loud and body rattling sobs are coming out of my throat.

It seems that everything that I wanted a couple of days ago, I now have. I just never expected it to hurt this much, I never expected the wave of regret to come over me.

I had never truly realised what I was going to lose until now, now that I had lost it all. I had known these people for less than a week, yet they are the closest friends I had ever had… they put up with me and even tried, but now I threw it all away.

It wasn’t going to be long until I lost Alec and Isabelle for good. Then I’ll lose Max then Mom.

I lost everyone in my life.

I had a whole family that I was taken from, but will now hate me for the mess that I am. They are going to be so disappointed if we ever meet. My father- well the man that took me from my real parents, he even got sick of me… he hated me by the time it reached just before his death. I bet he was glad to know that I was going to have no one when he left. I was so happy when I found out that I was going to go to a family with children my age, I was going to have friends… I wasn’t going to be lonely anymore.

But now I am.

All because I was too stupid to see what I had.

I uncurl my body after a moment, Alec was standing staring wide eyed and unsure.

I look over to the side of my bed, and sure enough the thing I was looking for was right there.

Before Alec could stop me, I was pressing the nurses button. I didn’t want to be awake anymore… I didn’t want to face this loneliness that was creeping up on me. That and the pain that was radiating through my chest.

A tired nurse comes into the room then. She stops when she sees the state I was currently in. Curled into myself on the bed, face swollen and wet from crying, my fingers were digging into my palms, making them bleed slightly and I don’t remember doing it.

“Please- just make the pain stop.” I beg her.

“What happened to him?” She snaps at Alec before coming over to check the machines that were still connected to me.

“We were just talking- “Alec looks scared.

“I’m tired.” I cut Alec off. I don’t want him to be here, because I don’t want to be here.

“Alec?” Isabelle’s voice rings through the room.

No. No, I don’t need her here… I don’t want her here either. I don’t want anyone here. I just- I can’t breathe.

My hands come up to fist my hair as my I try to breathe, but all that’s coming out is quick pants.

“Mr Wayland!” The nurse is trying to stop me from pulling on my hair.

“I’m tired- please I’m just so tired, I want to be alone- please please just let me be alone.” I squeeze my eyes shut, so I wouldn’t have to look at my scared siblings.

“I’m tired. I’m tired. I’m tire- sorry… I’m so sorry. Please tell him I’m sorry.” I beg someone, I don’t know who. Just someone.

“Who? Jace who?” I can hear Alec’s voice over the pounding of my heart in my ears.

“Simon.” I say then something sharp is poking into my arm. “Tell him- tell them all, all sorry.” I feel myself calming down.

“Oh god, Jace- “Isabelle is crying.

“Tis okay Iz- I’m okay… just sleepy… I’ll be okay if yo-you don’t feed me your cooking- “

I couldn’t even finish my sentence before I was out of it again. Sleep allowed me to finally stop feeling the pain and the crushing loneliness.  


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two:**

**Jace-**

It had been a further three days since my breakdown. I hadn’t seen Alec or Isabelle since, as the doctors didn’t think it safe for me whilst I was still healing. I tried to tell them that it was okay, that they could come if they want, but I doubt they would after what they saw.

But today will be the day that I will see them again, it would be unexpected as I wasn’t supposed to be checked out of here so early, but I had made a quick recovery after the amount of rest I had.

This means that tomorrow, I will have to go back to school. I had missed a week but I made sure to keep up on the homework Mom brought me in from home, so I wasn’t falling behind. That won’t be a problem tomorrow, the only problem I’ll have is the fact that no one will want to see me, and I’ll be alone.

As it was such a surprise release, Mom didn’t have much to do apart from listen to what the Doctors told her to keep an eye on, then drive me home.

I wasn’t expecting there to be another two cars sitting in the driveway. “Who’s here?” I ask Mom as she pulls the car to a stop in the street as she was unable to use the driveway.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t aware that their friends were coming around today.” I can’t help the little flinch when she refers to them as “their friends” as it reminded me of just how much they hated me right now.

“Oh.” Is all I can manage before shakily removing myself from the car. Mom follows me quickly, grabbing my bag out of the backseat as she goes.

“Jace- “She sounds like she wanted to comfort me but she had been trying for the past three days and it hadn’t worked then, so it wasn’t going to work now.

I didn’t need comfort, because I didn’t deserve it right now. I know that I deserve this, punishment for what I had done to them and I was okay, well I wasn’t okay, but I would manage. I could push aside the feeling of loneliness because I know I don’t deserve anything else.

I look down at my feet as I slowly open the front door, trying to be as quiet as I possibly could, as I didn’t want to alert anyone to my being there. I could hear laughter and talking coming from the living room so there was no way I was going to ruin that.

Stopping, I turn to Mom before I could go further into the house. “Please don’t tell them I’m here. I don’t want to ruin their fun.” I whisper to her, my body is shaking slightly and all I want to do is run to my room so I could hide from the guilt that is sitting in my living-room.

“I think you should talk to them,” Mom says softly, her eyes have never quite lost the sad look that had been there since the day I woke up. “They need to know everything that happened.” She finishes.

I have no idea what she means by that though. They all knew everything; Simon or Alec would’ve told them… right?

I shake my head. There wasn’t any possible way for them not to know, I mean, I think it would be big news. That I allowed myself to fall for Camille’s tricks and that’s why I hurt them so much. They probably now also knew how I felt about Simon and were laughing at me for it because there could be no way that Simon would feel anything for me now.

“I can’t talk to them! They don’t want to talk to me.” The words come out louder than I was hoping for, meaning that all conversation in the other room had stopped and it was silent throughout the house.

Crap. They knew I was here.

“I need to- “I start to back up so I could turn and walk as fast as I could to my room, as I don’t think I am quite able to run just yet. Even the thought of it makes me feel slightly sick to the stomach.

God my father would hate me for allowing myself to be this week.

No… wait, not my father. The man who stole me from my real parents, he would be the one to be angry at me.

Who knows what my real father would think.

“Mom? Is that you?” Alec calls from the front room, his voice soon followed by the sound of footsteps. “How’s J- Jace?” Alec looks surprised when he comes out into the hallway.

His face also looks relieved after a moment of looking at me. “I didn’t know you were coming home.” He walks further out into the hallway, a little closer to me.

“Neither did we. They decided that he might do better with a night at home before he goes back to school tomorrow.” Mom tells him then finally steps into the house and closes the door. “Have you all eaten?” She asks as she shrugs off her coat.

“Uh, no… we didn’t know if we were going to go out for something or not.” He answers her. I look down at the floor then, still not used to the idea of not having any friends.

God, I wished I knew how it felt when Alec was the one in this position. I would’ve been there for him so much more back then.

“No need, I’ll cook something for you. I need to make something for Max and Jace anyway.” She takes hold of my hand and gives it one reassuring squeeze before heading off to the kitchen.

Alec and I are once again left alone, in a weird and awkward silence.

This time, however, I am the one to break it. “Don’t worry, I’ll just stay up in my room,” I say to him before edging towards the stairs.

Alec stops me though, reaching out to put a hand on my arm. “No- I need to tell you what I was going to say before, back at the hospital. Before you panicked.” He says and I already feel my throat tightening.

“It’s okay, I get it and I understand why you are all angry- “Alec stops me again, with one of his hands in the air.

“No, you don’t get it Jace.” Alec puts both of his hands on my shoulders. “I really didn’t word it very well and it’s probably acceptable the way you reacted, but yeah. They are angry at you because they don’t know the full story. Simon knows some of the stories but not all of it, and I bet he’d be willing to forgive you in a heartbeat once he knows because remember that Camille got to him too, pretty bad from what I heard.” Alec waits for me to answer.

I don’t quite know what to say because Mom was right, they really don’t know what happened, what Camille did to me and what she made me do for them.

“But- they don’t want to talk to me, I doubt they would even want to see me,” I say, a little quiver to my voice.

“I’ll make them listen to you, I have a little bit of leverage now that I’m dating Magnus.” Alec laughs slightly, but I’m just taken aback.

“Huh? Since when?” I ask because seriously, since when did Alec start dating? And how the hell did I miss it, this is something I’ve wanted for him for a long time.

“Oh… I forgot you didn’t know.” Alec smiles at me, his mind wandering off somewhere. “It’s only been a week, but you were right when you suspected me liking him.”

I feel a smile growing on my face. “I knew it. And… I’m so happy for you Alec, I can see that you look happier already.” I say and something seems to settle in him. I don’t know what it was, but he just suddenly seemed much more relaxed.

“Thank you Jace, and just so you know, I could never hate you.” Alec pulls me into a hug. “Neither will Isabelle, or Mom, or Max.” I wonder why he is saying this. “You said it a lot before you finally passed out back at the hospital. You are never going to lose us.” He pulls back. “You’re my brother Jace, I’ll always love you.” He grins wildly at me.

I close my eyes for a moment, trying to sort myself out a little before I allowed myself to speak again.

After a couple of seconds, I open my eyes again. “I don’t believe you- but that’s not your fault… it’s mine. I can’t help it.” I admit after a moment.

Alec looked pained for a second before nodding his head. “Well, I’ll just have to prove it to you.” He bumps my shoulder with him, “Are you ready?” He asks then motions to the living-room with his head.

I nod silently before allowing him to take a hold of my arm, knowing that if I didn’t feel the comforting weight of his hand on me, then I would probably take off.

All the conversation stops in the room again when we walk in. I can feel all their eyes on me, but I refuse to look up from the floor.

“Jace? Why is he back home… should he be home?” Isabelle’s voice rings out from somewhere in the room, then a second later she is standing in front of me, her hands on my face. Her eyes are scanning my face, as if she was trying to find something wrong with me.

“I don’t know, they think he’s okay enough to go back to school tomorrow,” Alec tells her, making her scoff.

“Excuse me. They think he’s okay enough to go back to school after just a week? Half of which he spent unconscious. Did they even see him when- “?

“Isabelle, enough. Please.” Alec shakes his head at Isabelle, who then let’s go of me, allowing me to look down at the floor again.

“Oh- I see what’s going on here. He’s going to tell them.” Isabelle sighs then touch my cheek once more. “You’re going to be okay, Jace.” She then goes to sit back down.

“What does he have to tell us?... some more anecdotes on how disgusting he thinks we all are… if so then I think I’m just going to leave. I’d rather spare the pathetic excuses.” That was Clary, I could hear the anger in her voice.

Alec is quick to jump to my side. “Clary- please you don’t know the whole story. Do you honestly think I would forgive him so quickly if there wasn’t something bigger going on here?” Alec asks her.

“What could possibly happen to make him act like that? He wasn’t even provoked… so it wasn’t like he was forced to.” Clary argues back.

“Please, Clary. I want to hear what he has to say.” My body freezes when I hear that voice. It belongs to Simon, and he is willing to listen to me, much to my surprise.

It is silent for a long moment before I hear a sigh, meaning that Clary had finally decided that she was staying.

“Fine. But only for Simon… and Magnus.” Clary adds the last part in there after another moment of Silence. “And only if he has the decency to look us in the eye.” That last part holds more venom than the rest.

It makes my head snap up quickly” though, and my eyes immediately go to Isabelle, as she is the only safe one to look at, apart from Alec, but he was still standing behind me.

“Go on Jace. It will be better if you just get it over with.” Isabelle gives me a small reassuring smile.

I nod once, before taking a deep breath and turning to look at the first person who I can see, and it’s Magnus.

He looks completely unimpressed, and I know the only reason he is here is because of Alec. If Alec weren’t here then he would’ve probably left by now.

“I- “The first word is barely out of my mouth before I’m feeling the burn of tears behind my eyes. “-I was being manipulated… for almost as long as we have been living here.” The word manipulated makes Magnus sit up straighter, and I know that the thought of Camille has already come to his head. “I remember seeing someone on the first day that I arrived here when I visited the mall with Isabelle… we both wanted to get a good look at what kind of people were around- dating wise. Isabelle spent most of the time in different stores, allowing her to shop and for me to check out the women there… but by the time we went to lunch, I met someone… someone I wasn’t expecting to meet or even be interested in.” I allow my eyes to move from Magnus to Simon, who eyes were flashing with recognition as if he was remembering the day with me.

“What does this- “Maia (who I hadn’t noticed until now) asks.

“Shut up.” Simon snaps, his eyes still on me.

“… Until that day, I believed I was straight. Until then I was the straightest person I knew.” My eyes fall to the floor again. “I didn’t want to even think of the possibility that I might be attracted to a man… not because I see anything wrong with it, but it’s what I was made to believe by my f- “I stop, trying to find a word to call the man who had taken me as a child. “-the man who raised me. He made me believe that I had to be the perfect American man, for ten whole years. The time when I was most impressionable, so I believed that he would be disappointed in me. That’s why I started to drown myself in women.” I take a deep breath, “It started off with girls our age… but they soon started getting older because I didn’t believe that it was punishment enough to sleep with girls I would actually want to sleep with- so I aimed higher and higher…then I reached the highest level I could, her name is Camille and I believe you know her.” I close my eyes,

Simon was suddenly standing, and in a moment, he was standing right in front of me. His hands came up to frame my face.

“What did she do to you?” He asks, his voice thick with tears. “Tell me what she did to you, Jace.” Simon looks me up and down, like Isabelle, trying to find something physically wrong with me.

“She made a game out of me,” I tell him. Making him step back, so the others could hear me. “She at first, flirted with me… touched me a little bit but then she decided that I would be better suited for her friends… and that was fine for a while, but I soon started drinking too much, I didn’t like Camille’s friends and I was going to stop- I swear I was… but then school started and she found out that I was hanging around with you and Magnus, she then figured it out.” I hang my head.

“Figured what out.” It was Magnus, the first time he had spoken this whole time.

I look up at him, finding that all the anger had drained from his face and had now been replaced with just pain.

“How gone I was for the boy I met at the mall,” I answer. “And she used it against me… threatened to tell everyone what I had been doing with these older women, and she said that if I tried to leave, then both you and Simon would pay for it.” It was then that the first tear rolled down my cheek.

“Is Simon the boy from the mall?” Clary asks, she too had lost all the anger in her voice.

I only nod my head.

“Tell them what else, Jace.” Alec prods me gently.

“How can there be anything else?” Maia sounds horrified.

“The man who raised me wasn’t my real father. He- he took me as a baby, kidnapped me from my parents, only moments after I was born… but then he died and I ended up with Maryse and Robert.” I tell them.

“What! Jace… that- that’s horrible!” Clary squeaks.

“My family is actually here… it seems like I’m actually from Alicante, and Camille found this out. She managed to get it into my head that she would tell them how disgusting I really am, and they would hate me for it.” I feel myself shaking slightly. “I- I didn’t want them to know because I don’t know them… I want the chance to find out who they are! I wanted that chance but I didn’t want to stay as Camille’s little pet- even though I should’ve, it’s all I’m good for- “

“Don’t you dare.” Simon seethes. “You don’t get to talk about yourself like that. Not ever.” He is also shaking, but I believe it is due to anger.

I simply carry on with my story, wanting to just hurry up and get it over with. “- I decided that the best thing for me to do for anyone was to leave. I didn’t want my family to know how messed up I am, and I didn’t want Maryse, or Alec or Isabelle to ever find out what was going on and how weak I was enough to not stop it before… they always say I can talk to them, but sometimes I don’t know how.” Alec’s hand curls around mine, making the panicked feeling building in me, calm slightly.

“That’s why you said it.” Magnus states. “That’s why you said what you said. Because you wanted to push us away, so you could leave.” He had put it all together.

“Yes. I wanted you all to hate me, so I couldn’t somehow hurt you because of this. I wanted to hurt you enough that Maryse would send me away… and it almost worked, I almost went back to New York.” Isabelle stands up then.

“She was never going to send you.” I turn to look at her when she says that. “She was going to let you make your own choice, she just wouldn’t have stopped you if you had wanted to go.” Isabelle looks saddened by that thought.

“Lucky I didn’t then, or I would probably be dead right now.” I try to joke but I’m only met with several angry glares.

“Jace. This is not funny, what happened to you is not a joke, and I know this is what you do when you don’t want to face anything that could potentially hurt you.” Alec comes around to stand next to Simon and Magnus.

I sigh. “I know, I know.” No one looks impressed with me. “I’m sorry okay? I should’ve told you before, but even though I haven’t known you both for very long, you do mean something to me so I wasn’t going to allow her to hurt you.” I say and something once again softens in Magnus’s eyes.

“Jace, you have this ability to take everyone else’s pain and try to make it your own. My problems and Simon’s problems with Camille have nothing to do with you, all you need to worry about your own issues… after you feel better of course.” Magnus comes up to touch just under my eye. “Darling, remind me to never get on your bad side.” Magnus comments and I can’t help but wince as he touches my skin.

I only now remember Alec punching me in the face. God, I must look like a mess, Simon will not want to be with me for sure after this.

“I would never hit you,” Alec promises then reaches out to take Magnus’ hand.

“There was a time when you would say that about Jace.” Isabelle jokes and it makes Alec smile.

“That’s different, Alec is my brother,” Alec smirks at me and I smile back.

“Aw, so what is Magnus then?” Isabelle teases, making Alec blush. “I love this. I’ve never been able to tease you about a boyfriend before… don’t expect to stop anytime soon.” She winks then comes over and wraps her arms around me. “Now it’s time for- “

“-Dinner! What does everyone want? It seems you have all eaten me out of my home, so I’m going to order in.” Mom comes into the room, holding her phone and several different menus.

“It’s my turn to choose.” Isabelle declares then almost runs over to snatch the menus out of Mom’s hands.

Magnus and Alec follow behind her, both looking slightly worried as to what Isabelle will pick.

I’m about to follow them when I feel a warm hand wrap around my own and pull slightly. I stumble back and almost out of the room when I manage to see that it was Simon.

He pulls us out into the hallway so that we could have some privacy.

“Are you okay- “

I didn’t need to ask and he no longer needed to answer.

His lips pressing against mine was the only answer I needed.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I had tonsillitis and I've spent the past two weeks with a fever so I was stuck in bed, the only thing I was able to do was to lay back and watch countless movies. Also sorry that this isn't a very great chapter, I'm trying to get back into the swing of it! :)

 

**Chapter Twenty-Three:**

**Jace-**

  
School the next day was not something I was looking forward too. I mean sure. I had patched things up with some of the group already, the most important being Simon, but I just don't know how the other's are going to take it.

"Stop fussing so much, Jace. Both Magnus and Clary said they partly inform the others of what happened, but they're not going to go too deep into it." Isabelle shoves some orange juice over to me, narrowly missing pushing it too far to the left, where an unexpecting Max was sitting.Lucky for me I was able to catch it in time before it spilled on him. That would only end up with Mom being grumpy with everyone.

"Besides, you have us and Simon for sure," Alec adds as he swirls his coffee with a spoon.

"Oh yeah, he's not going to let you go now that he has you finally." Isabelle nods her head. "It's so cute how the both of you managed to find people like Magnus and Simon." She sounds a little bitter about something, I'm not sure what she has to be bitter about when I know she is going to find someone because she is the best one out of the three of us.

"You'll find someone soon enough, Isabelle. And they are going to be the most amazing person." Alec smiles reassuringly at Isabelle, who gives a small smile back.  
I stop paying attention after that because the next thing I know is that my phone is buzzing in my pocket. Pulling it out, I see that it is Simon asking if I wanted to walk to school with him.

"Who's that?" Alec asks when he sees me on my phone. He had been very protective of me being on my phone, always worried it was Camille or one of my hookup's wondering where I had been.

"Simon. I think I'm walking with him to school today." I say with a small smile growing on my face.

Isabelle's mood suddenly picks up. "Aw look at his little face, this is so cute. Go walk with him Jace, or I swear to god- "I throw a piece of cereal at her face to get her to shut up. 

"I am going to go, Isabelle. You don't need to tell me too, not anymore." I say before getting up from the table. He's almost at the house now so can someone please wash up or me?" I ask as I don't want to have to sit around washing dishes when I could be spending time with Simon.

"I'll do it, Isabelle and I are waiting on Magnus anyway, we're going to get breakfast before we go in," Alec replies before standing to move the bowl over to the sink.

"Thank you, bro, I owe you one," I call before grabbing my bag that was sitting on the floor next to my seat. It was then that the doorbell rang, god that was really quick. "That must be him, I have to go. See ya later, Bye Mom!" I call throughout the house as I make my way to the door.

Once I reach it, I almost throw the door open to reveal my... boyfriend? Standing on the other side.

"Hey!" I greet as I step outside, closing the door with a firm click behind me.

"Morning, how did you sleep?" Simon asks before one of his warm hands slip into mine, linking our fingers together. It takes me off guard a little, not really having had such a small but honest gesture with someone before. Someone that wasn't a parent, that is.

But I find myself loving the feel of it. "Amazing," I said before looking up at him. "You look beautiful this morning," I say by accident. It was only supposed to have been said in my head, but nope, I, of course, had to ruin it by opening my big mouth.

A pretty blush grows on Simon's cheeks at the compliment. "You are much nicer in the mornings." He smiles then looks down at the ground.

"I- "Stopping for a second I try to figure out what I want to say. "No. It's just for you... I want to be the person you deserve." I touch his cheek softly. "God knows that I've failed exceptionally at that already," I say with a small, sad laugh.

Simon frowns then lets go of my hand so he could pull me into a hug instead. He rests his face against my neck. "Hey. Stop believing what she made you do was your fault. She was manipulating you." He hugs me tightly. "I don't blame you for what you did, and it won't stop how I feel about you so you don't need to prove how you feel for me because of that. What you went through to keep her from harming me is proof enough in my books." I wrap my own arms around him then.

"I'm sorry, I just can't get it out of my head that I need to be sorry, and that I need to take some time to make it up to you," I say, he then leans his forehead against mine.

"I forgive you, Jace," Simon says softly. "But if you still feel like you need to make it up to me then I'm not going to so no to some more compliments." He jokes and I laugh slightly.

"That I can do." Simon grins then steps back to take my hand again.

"Good, I will be expecting it. For now, though, we should get to school... I can't wait to show off my new boyfriend!" Simon cheers then tug me into a walk beside him.

I smirk at his little comment. "That's one thing we both have in common it seems," I say before letting go of his hand so I could drape my arm across his shoulder instead, I'm just taller than him enough that it's comfortable and I could pull him towards me to press a kiss to his head as we walk.

"You're going to be the best boyfriend ever right?" Simon asks with a hopeful tone to his voice. "It might be hard for you considering we have Alec and Magnus to compare too." He points out.

I scoff. "Please, I accept the challenge." Simon laughs at that.

"I don't doubt you." He states then rests his head against my shoulder as we continue walking.

* * *

 

My nerves pick up again when we actually arrive at school. I know that Clary and Maia are there so it won't be so bad, but then I know that Catarina and stuff will be there and they are probably still angry with me over what happened. They probably will be when they see me walking in draped around Simon like I had the right too. When we step through the doors to the school, I allow my arm to drop from Simon's shoulder, in order for me to take his hand, as it draws less attention. The last thing I want is to draw the attention of someone that is mad at me... or someone who

When we step through the doors to the school, I allow my arm to drop from Simon's shoulder, in order for me to take his hand, as it draws less attention. The last thing I want is to draw the attention of someone that is mad at me... or someone who knows's Camille.

That was always a thought in the back of my mind. What if someone who knew Camille saw that this was happening? what will Camille do if she finds out that I'm now dating Simon? She is probably angry at me for ignoring her the past week, I wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't already told my family how shit of a son I would be.

"Hey, come back to me." I blink suddenly to find that Simon and I had both stopped and he was now standing in front of me, a hand on each cheek as he angles my head down until we have met eyes. "There you are. Hi" Simon smiles.

"Hi...what's going on?" I ask as I glance around the entranceway to the school. It wasn't all that busy so not very many people were paying attention to us, only a couple of girls that I think I once slept with, were staring either sadly or angrily at me.

"I don't know. You just stopped and started glaring at anyone who walked past, almost crushed my hand with how hard you were holding it." Simon motions to his left hand.

I quickly take a gentle hold of it before bringing the back of it to my mouth for a gentle kiss. "I'm sorry, I just can't help but feel paranoid over Camille," I admit and a sad look grows on his face.

"I know. I got the same thing after what she did to me, but she can't get you now, she has nothing to hold over you... you have me and you have your family and you have friends, nothing she can do will ruin that." Simon pulls me into a hug. "I won't let her ruin that. I won't let her ruin you." I hide my face in his neck as I soak up as much of the hug as I could.

"Thank you," I say because it seems too soon for what I really wanted to say in that moment.

"Always. I'll always be here for you Jace." Simon promises before we once again pull away far enough to take each other's hand.

"And I, you. Now let's go, I still have to show you off to the rest of the school." I say but he only scoffs.

"Judging by those girls over there, I am pretty sure half of the school already knows." He glares at the girls before making a show of leaning into me and smiling.  
"A little possessive?" I joke as we begin to walk again.

Simon only shrugs. "I just got you, I'm going to hold onto that for as long as I can." He states simply and I laugh.

I'm so falling for this boy.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone have a tumblr? I need some freshness on my feed. I need some Malec lovers to talk too :D

 

**Chapter Twenty-Four:**

**Alec-**

It was nice to see Jace finally so happy. After everything, he had been through both here in Alicante and in New York. He deserved to have the kind of happiness that Simon brought to him, I know that this relationship is going to be good for him.

That point was proved when we arrived at school to find everyone gossiping about the new couple. It was either girls squealing over how cute it was (like I had heard for myself and Magnus also) or several other girls that must've slept with Jace complaining that Jace should be with them because they had such a magical night together.

Magnus found these girls to be particularly funny and would chuckle whenever we would walk past one. Fair enough, some of their comments were a little over the top and funny, the worst is when a girl was complaining that she thought Jace was the one for her after that one night outside a club that they spent together. It must've been pretty magical to hide the fact it was in a sleazy club, that they weren't even old enough to get into, and Jace left to go back inside once they were done with... whatever they did.

Once we had passed the horde of girls that were littered about in small groups, we found our own group of friends sitting at our normal table. Jace and Simon were pressed against the wall, the both of them curled into each other in a way that reminded me of Magnus and myself.

Catarina was the first one out of the group to notice our arrival.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite couple!" She calls as we approach the table. "And their tag along." She adds once she notices Isabelle walking alongside us.

"Hey! I am no tag along." Isabelle scoffs before walking over to seat herself next to Clary, draping her legs over the other girl's legs. "I'm the favorite sibling of Magnus' boyfriend." She states then winks at the two of us as I take the last seat available.

"I told you not to say that out loud, I don't want Jace or Max getting jealous." Magnus stage whispers to her before settling himself on my lap. He is small, nimble, and flexible enough that he is able to sit cross-legged on my lap, facing me whilst his back rests against the table.

"I'm sure they'll live," I tell him whilst bringing one hand up to play with the buttons of the part of his shirt that falls open to reveal that chest that has so far been hidden from me. I had weirdly been reassured by several people that I wouldn't be disappointed when it comes to that time.

Okay, this is not the place to be thinking like that.

"If you wanted a peak, all you had to do was ask." Magnus winks at me, obviously catching on the train of thought I was having. "I'd be more than happy to show you." He's spotted the blush on my cheeks and he was obviously teasing me about it.

Two can play at that game.

"What? Right here?... I could be down for that." I lean forward to bite his lip gently making him gasp and pull back.

"Alexander!" He squeaks out, a little too loudly and it ends up drawing everyone's attention, even those of some around us at other tables. Magnus just flushes and moves until he is facing away from our friends more, so they couldn't listen in to our conversation. "You can't just say something like that- not in public." His hands come up to frame my face. "You have no idea what it could do to a man."

"Oh, I'm very aware of what it can do to a man. Why do you think I did it in the first place?" I joke and it makes him sputter for a moment, unsure of what to reply to that. A swell of pride builds up in me when I realize that I made him speechless for the first time ever.

Magnus laughs after a moment then leans down to kiss me softly once. "Darling, I think we are in need of a chat before any of that happens, but I'm game if you are." He jokes and this time I'm the one that's left without a word and a blush staining my cheeks.

I am saved by saying anything as before I could, someone is throwing a grape in our direction, making it bounce off Magnus's shoulder. Magnus turns to glare at the person who did it, both of us knowing it would be Lydia as she is the only one who eats fruit every morning.

"Calm down Magnus, I just wanted your attention for a moment." Lydia holds up her hands to show she meant no harm but Magnus doesn't lessen his glare.

"What is it?" I ask whilst using my body to angle both Magnus and I back towards the rest of the table. Magnus grumbles about not wanting to deal with these people so early in the morning, I try not to smile at that because it's so adorable.

"Maia's just invited us all for a barbecue at her house tonight, there is going to be swimming." Lydia winks at Magnus, groans then proceeds to hide his face in my neck.

Several others at the table all giggle at the little exchange.

"Does Magnus not like swimming?" Isabelle asks as she watches the reactions around the table. Only Isabelle, Jace, and I don't seem to know what's going on.

"He loves swimming but- "Maia starts but is cut off by Magnus.

"They are all savages." Magnus finishes for her before sitting back up to look at me once before looking at the rest of them. "They are all so desperate to get me without a shirt, aren't your respective boyfriend's jealous?" He asks.

Lydia and Maia just shrug their shoulders, unbothered by this fact. "I mean, even they can see how well... sculpted? you are..." Simon pipes up. "And it's not our fault that we like the sight, we blame you for always having your shirt hanging half open." Simon gestures to what Magnus was currently wearing.

"Let's hope Jace reaches my standards, considering you are so interested in my body, we can only hope that he reaches the bar for you." Magnus grins as quips back then shoots a look at Jace, who blushes.

"Oh, he so does," Isabelle answers quickly for him. "Right Alec?" She asks, making the smile fall from Magnus' face as he realizes his plan isn't going the way he wanted it too.

I blush as everyone suddenly looks at me. I avoid Magnus' eyes as I answer the question. "I have to agree with Isabelle on that one, only because I have no experience with any of that, so I don't really know much but I will take Isabelle's word for it," I answer making Isabelle scoff and Jace exclaim at the little dig.

"You can't say you don't have experience. Have you seen yourself?" Isabelle asks before reaching over and taking a strawberry from Lydia's collection of bite-sized fruit. "Surely you should know what you are doing." This once again draws the attention of the people at the table, some of them such as Lydia and Catarina lean forward slightly to see as if they could look through my shirt.

Magnus seems to notice this and with a huff, he places his bag in-between us. "Hey, eyes off." He points at them both, he eyes low in warning. "You don't get to see before I do." He warns before muttering "savages" again under his breath. He then turns away from them again to focus on me. "Don't worry Alexander I will protect you from their advances, you wouldn't think half of them were in relationships with the way they are looking at you." He stage-whispers to me, making sure that the others could hear what he said.

I just grin at him before moving his bag back onto the table and leaning forward to kiss the side of his lips. "My hero." I then proceed to joke, "what would I do without you?" I ask and it makes Magnus grin, he then wraps his arms around my neck.

"Live a frustrated life?" He suggests then with a very bold smile and a sly movement, he moves forward on my lap slightly without anyone noticing.

I definitely noticed because the asshole placed himself on a very... sensitive part of my body. He knew what he was doing to me and he was doing it on purpose because a second later he leans down in a pseudo hug, only to lick a teasing strip behind my ear before whispering. "A very frustrated life it seems." He laughs at this and I am so tempted to do something that would leave him the frustrated one but it seems that fate was against me because, at that exact moment, the bell rings for the first lesson.

Magnus is of me in a flash, a sly smirk still on his face because he knows exactly what he has done and what predicament he had left me in. "See you during free, my darling." He sings before leaning down to kiss my forehead. He then backs off to join Ragnor and Maia for whatever class they had.

"Let's go, Alec, we're going to be late if you just sit there!" Clary calls from where she is slowly walking away with Simon and Jace.

With one last glare at Magnus and an awkward shuffle to hold my jacket in front of me as I walk, I follow slowly behind Jace and Simon, with Clary at my side talking away about something that I can't focus on as I try to will my hard-on down.

He was so going to get it later.

* * *

 

Of all the things, why did it have to be swimming?

There was plenty things a group of young adults could do, many of them didn't involve swimming.

No matter how many times Isabelle and Jace told me that there was nothing wrong with my body, I always feel a little self-conscious about it. That's why I tried so hard at the gym, I wanted to work on a body that would make people accept me as I was already having trouble with that already. Once Mom actually made me stop going for a solid two weeks because I cut and bruised my knuckles on the punching bag so badly that one of them broke.

No one was amused after that.

I'm not that unhappy with my body but I'm still not all that comfortable with people seeing it. The logical part of me knows that no one is going to judge me and that it won't be a big deal, but the other part of me believes that I'm still not good enough and that I haven't reached my goal just yet. It's even worse that I have Magnus around, because what if I'm not good enough for him?

There was not much I could do about the whole swimming thing now, I was already sitting in the back of Mom's car, sitting in my shorts and a t-shirt on our way to Maia's. Isabelle was buzzing with excitement as she sat next to me in a short thin dress that I think is designed for the beach, she just threw it on to cover up her costume.

Jace was sitting beside Mom in the front of the car and he had the window rolled down, meaning that we could smell the barbecue coming from Maia's before we even reached the house. It actually worked out well for us as we weren't sure which one was her house until we caught the scent.

"Do you want me to pick you guys up later? You know Max loves a night drive before bed." Mom asks as she brings the car to a halt outside Maia's.

"I don't know what time we will be done. I think someone might give us a lift, but if not I'll call you." Jace promises before leaning over to kiss her cheek. "I'll let you know either way, but if we are getting a lift just try to not wait up for us." He sets a firm gaze on her as he says this.

She just scoffs slightly, a smile on her face as she playfully hits his arm. "Shush you, I'm the parent here. Now off you go and make sure to say hello to Simon and Magnus for me." She turns to smile at me and I smile back, glad that she has accepted Magnus in the way she had.

"Sure will Mom, see you later!" Isabelle cries then hops out of the car, she almost runs up to the door, excited to join the others.

"Someone is excited." Mom mumbles under her breath before turning to look at Jace and me again. "Have fun boys." She says before both Jace and I leave the car to join Isabelle by the door, Mom drives off after a moment to watch us arrive at the door.

"This is so great! I've never really been to a barbecue that wasn't eaten inside. God this place is much better than New York! imagine having a pool party outside in New York? seems impossible!" Isabelle is bouncing on the balls of her feet as she presses the doorbell. I could almost feel the excitement radiating off her.

Before Jace or I could even think about answering her, the door opens to reveal Jordan, already wet from swimming and trying to stop his hair from flopping in front of his face.

"Hey, guys! I was wondering when you were going to turn up." He steps to the side and gestures into the house. "Come in, everyone is out back... well Magnus and Maia ran next door to Magnus' to get more ice but they should be back soon." He rambles on as we all step into the house.

"Where can we dump these?" Isabelle asks after giving Jordan a brief one armed hug in greeting, she holds up to show her bag that was filled with spare clothes and a towel for later.

"Oh! I'll put them with the others in Maia's room, you can change in there if you want before coming out." He offers but Jace and Isabelle just scoff.

In a second Jace has torn off the wife beater shirt he was wearing and stuffed it in his bag, Isabelle follows after him by pulling off her dress and flinging it to Jace for him to carry, along with her bag, leaving her only holding a pair of sunglasses. "I'll meet you, boys, outside shall I?" She asks then flicks her hair to the side, she then saunters her way towards the back door as if she owned the place.

"I don't say things like this often," Jordan starts as he watches Isabelle walk away, "but your sister is fierce." He then finishes, making Jace laugh.

"Never has a truer statement been spoken, my friend." Jace pats his shoulder. "Where do these go?" Jace asks again talking about the bags.

"Oh, this way. Alec do you want to...?" He gestures to my shirt and bag.

I give Jace a weary look as I fiddle with the hem of my shirt, he just gives me a reassuring smile and a nod in return, letting me know that it would be okay. Thinking about it, it would be weird for me to not just take it off, considering everyone else will be in the same state of undress.

With a sigh, I yank the shirt over my head, accidentally pulling the sunglasses I had perched on my head, off and leaving them to fall on the floor.

Jordan leans down to grab them whilst I went to stuff my shirt into my bag.

It was then that I heard a low whistle from the doorway, looking up I see that it is Clary, leaning against the doorway and staring at the three of us without any shame. "I sure do know how to pick ripped friends..." She cocks her head to the side and sighs. "God, I hate being single." She whines before ducking back out of the door.

"Someone's lonely and a little frustrated." Jordan jokes as he hands me my glasses in a swap for my bag. "I'll take this for you, you go ahead and join the queen outside." He points to the door then turns to walk up a staircase just to the left of us.

"The queen?" I call after him as Jace turns to follow.

"Your sister." He shouts back before walking up the stairs and vanishing from view.

Once Jace had also vanished from sight, I head for the doors that seemed to lead to the pool outside.

Everyone seems to be in the pool, John is on the other side of the pool with Simon as they bicker over what way to cook the meat. Isabelle is lounging on one of the three sun loungers, Lydia is next to her. I decide to head over there first because it doesn't seem like Magnus and Maia were back yet.

As I head over to Isabelle, I look over the large fence to see the top of what must be Magnus' house. It looked big and slightly intimidating next to Maia's smaller, but still pretty large, house.

"Shit, Isabelle you weren't kidding." Is the first thing Lydia says as I finally reach her and Isabelle.

Izzy turns her head to see what Lydia was talking about, she grins when she sees that it was me. "I know. I think Magnus will approve." Isabelle jokes before motioning for me to sit down.

"Are you my spokesperson now?" I ask as I sit at the bottom of her sun lounger, allowing her to prop her feet up on my legs. "I don't remember agreeing to that."

Isabelle crosses her ankles. "You should because you sell yourself too short, and I always see the best in you big brother." She answers before reaching for a drink that was placed on the arm of the chair. "Here, you could use this." She holds it out to me.

I look at it suspiciously for a moment before taking a small sip of it, testing the waters to make sure it's nothing alcoholic. Finding out that it's just strawberry water, I relax slightly because it's pretty good and it's a little over too hot outside. I'm suddenly glad for the pool.

"I agree with her, you do sell yourself short." Lydia winks at me. "Man if you weren't gay and I didn't have John, I'd be all over that." She looks me up and down and I suddenly feel a little too exposed, missing the cover that my shirt gave me.

"Lyd's you're making him uncomfortable." Jace's voice perks up from behind me as he comes to lie down on the last available sun lounger.

"Sorry, I can't help myself I'm a creeper by nature." She throws back at him then is silent for a moment, a sly smile growing on her face. "I'd better stop now anyway, Magnus can get very possessive when it comes to the things that are his." She comments then looks behind me.

I follow her gaze, only to find myself staring at Magnus.

He had just come in from a gate that opened onto his own garden, Maia was in front of him trying to guide him as he carried in a large bucket of what must be the ice the went to get.

All of that went out of my mind as I allowed my eyes to travel down him. He had obviously been swimming as his body was still slightly damp, making it glisten in the sun like some sort of scene from a cliché teenage romance film. Speaking of his body, it was toned and raised in all the right places, his abb's standing out more due to the sun bouncing off of them. His arms were the things that had my solid attention right now as he clenches tightly to the bucket in his hands, making the muscles in his arms tense.

"I understand why you all want to take him swimming," I mumble without really noticing that I had said it.

Isabelle and Jace laugh, whilst Lydia just nods her head in agreement.

"You are drooling big brother." Isabelle sits up and scoots forward to get a better look. "And now I understand why- how can someone make baggy swim short's tight enough to show off that ass- "

"Isabelle!" I exclaim before she could finish what she was about to say.

She bursts out laughing at the scandalized look on my face. "What! It's true!" She defends herself whilst throwing up her hands. "You and I were both thinking it." She states then looks over my shoulder. "Oh, incoming big bro." She nods her head behind me before leaning back against the chair.

I turn to see Magnus had noticed that we were here and had basically abandoned helping Maia, leaving it up to John, meaning Simon was left to cook.

I imagine we were going to have some burnt food as Simon had also just noticed that Jace was here, half naked and spread out on a flat surface.

"Darling, you have no idea how-" Magnus trails his eyes down me before sighing softly and finishing his sentence "-happy I am to see you." It seems that he put more emphasis into the word 'see' than was actually necessary.

"Oh, you bet he does," Jace comments before getting up, his eyes set on Simon.

"He's not wrong," I say before pushing Isabelle's legs off of me. "Want to swim?" I ask before standing up.

Magnus takes a shaky breath. "Most definitely." Magnus turns and strides towards the pool, I can tell by the way he is walking that he is trying to tease me again.

Nope. Not this time.

In a sudden bold move, I have taken hold of his arm and pulled him around to face me.

"Alexan- Woah!" He exclaims when I have suddenly lifted him from the ground. Automatically his arms and legs circle my neck and waist.

"My turn," I whisper before pulling him down into a kiss, ignoring the several wolf whistles I get from the people around us.

Magnus kisses back with as much enthusiasm as I, his hands returning to his favorite spot at the back of my neck, then moving upwards to fist into my hair.

With Magnus distracted, I blindly walk to the edge of the pool. I pull back sharply from him just as I take the last step off the ledge, both of us submerging in the water within seconds.

As I was expecting it, I'm able to come up gracefully whilst Magnus chokes and splutters slightly at the suddenness of it.

"You menace!" Magnus exclaims as he coughs slightly. "You beautiful and too sexy for your own good, menace." Magnus swims the small distance to me so he could return to the position he was in before I dumped us into the water. His hands come up to frame my face, partially pushing away the wet hair from my face. "Alexander, you have no idea how hot that was." Magnus sounds breathless, and I don't think it's entirely from the water.

"Do you like being carried?" I ask with a small chuckle, leaning in until my head is resting against his.

"It seems like I do... I've never been with someone so strong, It gets me a little hot headed." Magnus admits then leans forward to kiss me once before speaking again. "I can't help but let my mind wander to how that strength could be used for better use... such as holding me up against the wall whilst I allow you to have your wicked way with me." He whispers and before I could stop it, a moan slips from my mouth.

Also without much thought, I allow my hands to trail from his back, stroking over the hard muscles until they rest on his ass, giving me leverage to lift him up further.

"Fuck- Alec- if you continue like that then I may just have to take you away from this party early." Magnus teases, taking this all as a joke but I'm suddenly not sure if I want it to be a joke.

In fact- that's exactly what I want him to do.

"looks like I'll just have to continue then." I nip his bottom lip slightly before once again doing something I wouldn't expect myself to do normally, and especially not in front of my siblings, but I allow one hand to squeeze one globe of his ass.

Magnus whimpers slightly and allows his eyes to close for a second before realizing what I said.

"Alexander- Darling are you sure-" Magnus starts but I cut him off with a kiss.

"Yes, I'm sure- I want you... maybe not all the way but- please... I need something, I need you." I whimper before hiding my face in his neck, kissing his pulse point.

Magnus moans softly. "Tha-that I can g-give you." Magnus breath is coming out in harsh pants as I continue to kiss his neck. "Let's go before you make a-" He stops when I bite his neck softly.

"You were saying?" I ask, pulling away from him to look at his face.

His hands come to frame my face again and I am met with low and heavy eyes, they send sparks of something hot through me. "Get your ass out of this pool now, unless you want me to take you here-" I moan at that and something sparks in his eyes for a split second. "You weren't lying..." He mumbles before getting back on task. "You're lucky I live next door, the place will be empty for hours... imagine what we could do-"

I'm suddenly out of the pool in a flash, one hand leaning down to pull him out behind me.

"We need ice!" I state loudly to the rest of the people in the garden. They all stop to stare at us, most of them confused but I know for a fact that Isabelle knows what's really going on. The look in her eyes tells me that much.

"We just got-" Maia points at the still full bucket that Magnus had a little while ago.

"Not enough- not good enough, we need better Ice." Magnus grabs my hand and pulls me towards the gate that leads to his garden.

My face heats up with excitement as I'm pulled through the gate, Magnus slamming it behind us.

The last thing I hear from the other side of the fence is some lovely and seriously embarrassing advice from Isabelle that right now, I couldn't begin to focus on.

"Remember to use protection!"


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is so bad and I'm sorry, I'm not very good at writing this kind of scene and I finished and uploaded this when I was sort of sad so it's not going to be my best. 
> 
> Sorry again! I'll try to do better next time.

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Alec-

The inside of Magnus' house was grand and beautiful, just like the man himself.

I didn't get to see the real scale of the place thought, because of how fast Magnus pulled me through his home and up the steps to what must be his bedroom. The only thing that makes it clear that it is a bedroom is the bed sitting underneath the skylight. The rest of the room looked more like a social area, it even had a fridge in the corner.

Magnus chuckles slightly as he sees the awed expression on my face, the heat that was in his eyes outside had now changed to amusement, and that was something I didn't need right now.

So the second he steps in the door behind me, I am slamming him up against it, using his body to push the door shut as I pull him back into a heated kiss.

Magnus's arms come up to wrap around my neck, pulling me in close to him. His hands take their place in my hair, one of them giving it a firm yank to pull me back far enough that he is able to stretch up and attack my neck with his mouth. A warm shudder runs through me as I trail my hands up Magnus' body until I have copied him with running my hands through his hair.

"Shit M-Magnus..." I moan before moving my hands down to his ass again and using it as leverage to hike him up again. He seems to know that this is about to happen because he is ready to wrap his legs around my waist. Now that Magnus was higher up than me, it made it easier for him to get to my neck.

He gives it one last nip before pulling back. "My god, darling. I knew I was right.... those arms- God those arms could hold me against any surface." Magnus lets out a shaky breath then a small laugh. "I think-" Magnus loses his breath for a second. "-I think I might store that knowledge for another day, for now, there is something else I want to do." Magnus kisses me once more before unwrapping his legs from my waist and sliding down my body until he was standing.

"Really?" I ask, my voice sounding a little husky.

He begins to push me towards where his bed was, pushing me down onto it until I am sitting looking up at him. "Really," Magnus answers before sinking down to his knees.

My mouth dries up and all air escapes me when I realize what he is about to do.

"Are you okay, Alexander?" He asks, obviously noticing my reaction to what was about to happen. I love that he is so caring over my needs.

"Y-yes... more than okay actually," I say as I didn't want him to get the wrong thought about this and think that this wasn't something that I wanted to do. "Magnus please-"

Magnus leans up on his knees to press a kiss to my neck. "Don't worry darling, I've got you, just relax and enjoy." Magnus purrs into my ear then pushes me flat onto the bed before sinking back to his knees.

I don't know why, but it turns me on a little bit more now that I couldn't see what was happening. I like just giving into the feeling and being able to trust Magnus with something like this, it made me happy to know I had someone in my life like that.

I jump slightly when I feel Magnus' cold and slightly damp hands trail up my thighs, up until they reach the waistband of my swimming shorts, when he gets there he taps one finger against my hipbone as if he were asking me if it were okay to proceed.

"Please." Is all I answer before I feel his fingers hooking into the shorts and slowly pulling down, I lift my hips up to help him along.

Once he had pulled them off my ankles, I suddenly feel very exposed and if I were looking down at Magnus right now I'd probably be trying to hide from him.

Not being able to see him is probably the best thing for me right now, it will probably be different next time, but for now, I was happy to just lose myself in it and give all of the power and my trust to Magnus.

I am suddenly brought out of my thoughts of my head when I feel cold breath against the most sensitive part of my body, making me moan. It wasn't a touch, yet it was still enough for me to arch my back slightly.

"Your so sensitive darling." Magnus coo's at me and I whimper slightly at his tone of voice. It was low and heavy with lust and want, something I had never heard someone use when it comes to me, yet I find that I like it more than anything right now.

That's until I feel Magnus trail his tongue from the base of my dick to the head of it then the feel of him twirling it slightly around said head.

"Shit- Magnus." I gasp before I let my hands tangle in his hair, just to keep him where he was, and as I did that, I discovered that I really liked the feeling of just holding him there and just having what I wanted.

"Shh baby, I've got you." Magnus hums then with one swift movement, he has taken the whole of me into his mouth and I cry out as I feel myself touch the back of his throat.

I had heard about this feeling from Jace, how it felt when someone took the whole of you down, but he went into too much detail and I never truly believed him, especially when he started to mention something about choking. That's when I stopped the conversation or simply left the room.

It was bad enough that it was my brother saying this stuff to me, but hearing this stuff about a girl just made me slightly uncomfortable, especially when it was in the time when Jace didn't know about me and would try to set me up with the girls he had previously been speaking about, so I could experience it myself.

I never thought I would ever experience it, not until this very moment.

Magnus hums around me then pulls off, sucking as he did so. He pulls off me with a pop that makes my cheeks flush, his hand is then on me. "Are you okay darling? You've gone awfully quiet." Magnus asks but I can hear the smile in his voice so I know he's not actually that worried because he knows exactly what he is doing to me.

I couldn't even answer him because of what he was currently doing with his hand. So instead of verbally, I just reach out for the side of his neck, directing him where I want him.

Magnus just laughs and whispers demanding under his breath before taking me into his mouth again and licking around as he goes down then back up, giving me just the type of friction I needed to get lost in the pleasure again.

He definitely knew what he was doing and it made Alec a little uncomfortable knowing where Magnus had done this on but those thoughts are soon flying out of his head when he feels a tingling sensation growing in his stomach in a way he had felt only a couple of times when he had played with himself.

"Magnus I-" Magnus pulls off then, obviously heading the warning that I couldn't get out.

He takes me back in his hand and starts to quickly jerk me off whilst I moaned his name.

I close my eyes when I feel myself cum all over his hand, part of me completely embarrassed that I had done it. I was kind of embarrassed about the whole thing now that my mind was cleared up from the fog of arousal.

As I come down from my high, I feel myself being moved onto the bed fully then something being draped over me. It was silent then for a while before I heard footsteps coming closer to me.

I turn my head to see that at some point Magnus had left the room and had now arrived back with a glass of water.

"Drink." He says softly before helping to prop me up enough to drink some water. "Are you okay?" He asks then strokes some hair out of my face.

"Mmm," I mumble before nuzzling into the pillow under my head.

"Tired?" He asks with a smirk.

"A bit- mainly happy," I answer before looking up at him, realizing in that moment, that I didn't do anything for Magnus, I just took from him. "I didn't-"

"Oh but you did, Alexander," Magnus answers before I could even finish what I was going to say. "You made such pretty noises, I couldn't hold myself back, but you can get a turn next time." Magnus motions his head towards his bottom half and I notice that he had changed out of his swim trunks and into a pair of boxers that don't do much to hide anything.

I blush as I slowly realize what he was getting at and this makes Magnus laugh. "How about we lie here for a while before going to get some food?" He suggests and I groan inwardly when I remember that we still had to go back downstairs after this, knowing full well that everyone knows exactly what was going on in here.

Magnus presses a kiss to my forehead. "I know baby, but it's best to get it over with quickly huh?" He suggests before lying down next to me properly and resting his forehead on my shoulder, he then presses a kiss to my collarbone.

"At least you don't have to live with Isabelle and Jace." I groan as I think of the teasing that is no doubt coming my way.

Magnus strokes a finger over my stomach then down to my pelvic bone, just over where my crotch is covered by a thin blanket. It's then that I realize that I am still completely naked, whilst Magnus is dressed.

"Can I see?" I ask without really thinking it through.

Magnus sits up to stare at me, one eyebrow raised. "Can you see what darling?" He asks before stroking a hand down my cheek.

"It's not a big deal, I just feel a little... weird?" I trail a finger over his waistband and I see the realization grow in his eyes.

"Oh, of course, darling. I didn't know if you were comfortable with it." Magnus whispers then press a kiss to my forehead. He then pulls back to casually yank off his boxers.

I find myself not knowing what to do now. I wasn't sure if Magnus wanted me to repay him for what he just did for me or if that was something he wasn't comfortable doing with me at all.

"Hey." Magnus snuggles down next to me again, pulling the blanket over us as he does so. "Don't feel any pressure, we can just sleep for now." Magnus kisses my nose.

I let out a sigh of relief when he suggests this. The sudden pressure to do something is making me freak out and that's so not how I want my first time doing that with someone to go. "I'm sorry," I mumble before closing my eyes.

"You have nothing to apologize for Alexander. Now." Magnus reaches for his phone that was somehow sitting on his bedside table. "I'll text Catarina to call us when the food is ready, but until then we will sleep." Magnus types something into his phone before throwing it back onto the bedside table.

"Okay," I mumble before turning to face him just as he curls back into me, nestling his head under my chin and tangling his legs with mine.

I kiss the top of his head before burying my face in his soft hair, the familiar smell of him and the warmth between our two bodies is what sends me to sleep.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

 

**Chapter Twenty-Six:**

**Alec-**

A sudden heavy weight landing on his body is what next wakes Alec up. It sends him jolting upright in shock, knocking the weight off him and sending it to the floor. He blinks his eyes to try and clear the fuzziness that comes from sleep and also trying to process the situation.

A moan from his side reminds him that he was with Magnus, and it also reminds him of what he just did with Magnus. He blushes then looks to the side to see that the bedroom door was open and there standing in the doorway was Isabelle and she had a massive shit-eating grin on her face.

"Isabelle!" I cry out, pulling the blanket further up both Magnus and me. She just throws her head back and laughs. Another laugh from the floor tells Alec that Isabelle was not the only other intruder in the room. Looking down he see's that Catarina was sitting there laughing at the two of them with a phone in her hand, the camera pointed right at them.

Magnus chose that moment to sit up and snatch the phone out of her hand. "Catarina, if you wanted a free show all you had to do was ask." Magnus snaps at her as he deletes the video she had taken off her phone. "Granted you will get a solid no from the both of us." He then proceeded to say as he handed the phone back to her.

"We just wanted to let you know that the food was ready. You're the one who didn't answer his phone even though he warned us to call... we were worried, so being the nice people we are, we just had to check on you." She presses a hand to her heart before sharing a grin with Isabelle.

Magnus just snorts. "Yes. I'm sure that's the case." He glances at me. The whole time he had been speaking, I had just sat there in shock. Magnus had allowed the blankets to fall to his waist, but I still had them pulled all the way up to my neck. Why Isabelle had thought it would be a good idea to come up here even when she knew fine well what was going on, was beside me.

"Isabelle, can you please go?" I ask her, motioning with my eyes to my swim shorts that are currently lying in a sopping pile beside the door.

She follows my eyes then blushes as if the weight of what was going on had just hit her. "Oh... I- I'll be downstairs, see you in a bit." She turns suddenly to flee and ends up bashing her shoulder against the doorframe and stumbling from the room. It was such a change to see her stumble when she is usually so graceful. I quite liked the change.

"I guess I'll go too." Catarina jumps up from the floor then fixes us with a glare. "Now. Don't take too long or I will come back up." She walks towards the door. "You have 5 minutes to get your buts downstairs." She calls over her shoulder then shuts the door behind her, leaving Magnus and myself, sitting in stunned silence.

I allow the blankets to fall from my grip, letting them pool around my waist again. "We asked for that, didn't we?" I ask Magnus, breaking the silence Isabelle and Catarina left.

Magnus grins then turns to look at me. "I believe we did my darling." He presses a chaste kiss to my mouth before pulling back. "We should always remember that privacy in this friend group is just a fleeting wish." He says then pulls back so he could get out of bed.

I look away quickly before remembering that I didn't have to look away, that it was okay for me to admire him and that is was probably encouraged by Magnus himself.

Speaking of Magnus, he seemed to notice my quick moment of hesitation and had decided to comment on it. "No need to be shy darling, nothing you haven't already seen." He looks me up and down with a small quirk of his eyebrow. "And nothing I haven't already seen, or touched... or tasted." He winks at me before allowing his eyes to linger on my lap for a moment. He then turns and continues to ready himself to go back outside.

I take a breath before following him out of bed. I shyly cross over to where my shorts are lying, once I pick them up I find that they had left a small puddle on the floor.

"Don't be silly, Alexander." Magnus comes up behind me to take the shorts off my hands. "I have a spare, clean pair. I'll wash these tonight then return them to you tomorrow." He crosses to a door which leads onto a bathroom. "They can stay here for now." He throws them into the bathtub before coming back out.

"You don't have, too," I say but he ignores me, crossing back over to stand in front of me.

"Nonsense, Alexander." He wraps his arms around my neck. "You are my boyfriend, it's my job to make sure you are comfortable." He leans up to peck my lips again. "Besides, I quite like the idea of seeing you in my clothes." He then jokes, making me laugh slightly.

"Possessive?" I ask.

"Very, I mean have you seen yourself?" Magnus trails a hand down my back until he can grip my ass in his hand for a moment. "Like hell would I allow someone else to touch what only I can." He leans up to press a more urgent kiss to my lips, his grip on me only allows him to pull me closer, allowing the kiss to deepen.

I let my arms trail around him until they're both splayed against his back, pulling him up and against me even more than before. He moans against my mouth when I do it.

The little moan was it for me and I was just about to pick him up and throw him onto the bed when-

"I CAN HEAR YOU GUYS IN THERE, GET DOWNSTAIRS NOW BEFORE I MAKE YOU." Catarina's voice travels through the door, making Magnus and I spring apart in fright.

We glance at the door for a moment then back at each other.

"Perhaps we should go?" I suggest with a little nod towards the door.

"Yeah... we probably should." Magnus agrees.

With that we both hurry to get ourselves ready before Catarina comes barging back into the room.

* * *

After we were ready, we met Isabelle and Catarina downstairs, Magnus holding my hand as he knew I needed the comfort when it came to facing our friends and my family. I was a little nervous to the teasing I was about to face from Isabelle and Jace. The first thing they would notice about me is the fact that I was wearing different swim shorts than I was before.

I just hope they don't say anything too obvious around Mom when she comes to collect us. I think I would rather jump out of the moving car rather than be faced with the talk with Mom. It was bad enough when she and Robert tried to give it to me when they thought I was old enough to know how to treat a woman. God that was mortifying as by that point, I knew I was gay.

Isabelle grinned when we arrived downstairs, her blush and awkwardness from before had now gone and I knew she was getting ready in her head, ready to think up all the ways she could tease me.

"Food ready?" Magnus asks as he pulls me past the both of them, not allowing them any time to say anything to me.

He really is something special.

"Yeah, Simon is serving so I'd get there before he gives all the food to Jace," Catarina tells us, she, unlike Isabelle, had caught on to the fact that I was uncomfortable enough as it was and didn't need to be teased about the fact that she just walked in on Magnus and me post sex.

"Catarina darling, you know I always bring spares for when Simon cooks. Remember the Clary incident two summers ago?" Magnus asks her as he locks the door after Isabelle, who was the last one to come out of the house.

"What?" Isabelle suddenly asked. "Did Simon and Clary date?" I raise my eyebrows at that as it wasn't something I ever saw happening because they seemed to close as friends.

"For a month or two," Magnus informs us as he takes my hand again. "He believed he was in love with her since they first met, but it was more platonic than anything else so they just decided to end it and stay friends." After he tells us that I lean over to push the door open for us to cross back into Maia's Garden.

"Ever since then Clary's only really been into girls, well she's also been into guys but more often than not it's been a girl," Cat says, a little quieter now that we were back with the others.

"Huh..." Isabelle hums then glances over at Clary, who was currently eating a hotdog with Jace and Simon now.

I turn my attention from her and back onto Magnus.

"Hey, get me a hot dog and I'll grab some drinks?" I suggest, eager to get away from everyone again. I just wanted to sit with him for a bit before everyone submerged on us once they realized we were back.

"Perfect." Magnus agrees, kissing me quickly before crossing over to where the food sat. I smile at him before turning to head towards the drinks table, sadly it was next to where Simon, Jace, and Clary sat. There was no way I was going to avoid running into them.

With a large sigh, I take a couple of steps towards them, which was just enough to make Jace look up from where he was staring at Simon.

As soon as he has laid eyes on me, he was grinning and getting ready to stand up.

"No-" I start, but it was too late.

Jace had jumped up and attacked me into a hug. "Look who has surfaced!" Jace calls out to the rest of the people milling around and eating. I see Maia shaking her head at Jace's actions but there was a smile on her face, as well as Jordan's. As for the rest of them, I had no idea because I couldn't see them.

"Barely, it took the entire weight of Catarina to even get them to consider waking up." Isabelle comments from behind me. "Then I was faced with the situation of seeing my brother naked in bed with another man.... something I never thought I would experience and if it were a year ago, I would've told you that you were crazy." I pull back to look at both of my siblings. "I feel so proud." She pretends to wipe away a tear from her face.

"Shut up, it's not that big of a deal," I mumble as I lower my face towards the ground, refusing to make eye contact as I didn't want to see the looks in their eyes. I also didn't want them to see the blush on my face.

"Not a big- Alec, I thought you were going to die a virgin." Jace comments then receive a smack on the chest from Simon, who had, at some point, came to stand beside Jace.

"Don't say that Jace, Alec is only like eighteen, that's not a bad age to lose your virginity. It's not even up to you to judge him, it's up to him and it's only when he feels comfortable to do it. You should be happy that Alec found someone that he trusted that much to have even considered having sex with." Simon lectures Jace, who actually looks a little ashamed of his words.

"I didn't mean it like that- I swear Alec." Jace looks at me with a soft look on his face. "I really am happy for you, and I'm glad that you have Magnus and that you trusted him with something like that." Jace grips my shoulder once.

"Yeah, me too... but he should know that I will hurt him if he ever decides to break the trust you have given him." Isabelle crosses her arms, looking a little menacing.

"Dually noted my dear." We all turn to see that Magnus had now joined us. He was holding a plate piled with enough food for four people, it makes my stomach rumble to look at.

Magnus grins when he hears the noises my stomach made. "I though so Alexander, that's why I made sure to grab more food that two people would need." He says then brushes past the other people around us, he links his arm with me before pulling us both over to the grassiest part of the garden.

It really was beautiful here, and Magnus had chosen the best place for our little picnic he had made. It was filled with neatly trimmed grass and wildflowers of pink, yellow and white. It sat under a large tree that seemed to have the remains of an old treehouse near the top of it.

"Maia and I used to spend all summer up there," Magnus comments as we take our seats under the tree. "We built it with Maia's father before he died."

"It's an impressive tree house," I comment as I lean against him.

Magnus hums then leans against the trunk of the tree, placing the food on my lap as he does. He then wraps one arm around my waist whilst the other plays with my hair. I allowed myself to relax into him, resting my cheek against his shoulder.

I use my free hand to hold up part of a sandwich to Magnus's mouth, which he gladly takes.

"This is nice," I comment as he eats his food. "I have always seen things like this on TV, but I never really thought it would happen." Magnus presses his cheek into my hair and holds me closer to him.

"Never think that Alexander, no one should be alone in the world." He says softly. "Especially not someone like you, no matter what anyone has said to you in the past." I know that Magnus was hinting at Robert but he didn't outright say anything, and I was glad for that. I didn't want to talk about that man, not when I was having such an amazing time with Magnus.

I press closer to him, closing my eyes as I do so. "Thank you," I whisper against his skin.

"Always my darling, you'll never be alone now that you have me. I promise." He whispers back.

And I believed every word.


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Chapter Twenty-Seven:**

**Alec-**

It had been two months since Magnus and I first became sexual with each other. Since then it had become part of our usual life, though, we had yet to go all the way as I wasn't sure if I was ready for that yet. School was also becoming ridiculously busy lately as we were taking our mock exams on the lead up to Halloween.

We were all busy trying to study to get our pre-grades as they were the ones that decided if we were going to go through with the overall exam at the end of the year.

I was struggling a bit with studying this time around as I had never had to juggle between studying, actual school work, basic human needs, maintaining my social life and paying attention to my boyfriend. I was living in a constant fear that I wasn't paying enough attention to Magnus and that he would end up getting sick of me. I knew it was just my anxiety and that Magnus knew fine well what I was going through as he also had to focus on his exams. he was just a little better at handling it all as he didn't panic as easily as I did.

He was, however, very good at finding ways to calm me down, even though his methods did distract me from doing any work.

The worst part of it was when Isabelle thanked Magnus one day when he was leaving for the night. Both of us were confused as to why she had to thank him, and it turned out that the reason was very embarrassing to me.

She and Jace were both apparently thankful that Magnus was able to tame the beast that I become when I'm stressed with exams. That then led to Magnus staying for almost another hour as Isabelle sat and told him stories of the years past when I was faced with exams before. She told him about the mortifying coffee incident from last year, one that she promised to never tell anyone.

Magnus just laughed and called me adorable, even though I was standing there feeling as if my world was falling apart.

Sisters.

That, is the reason as to why I'm currently given Isabelle the silent treatment. Not because I'm actually mad at her, mostly because I want to annoy her for embarrassing me, and I know that getting ignored is something that bothers her. It had been my defense against her ever since we were younger. It used to amuse Mom greatly as it taught Isabelle, who was a little spoiled due to Robert, that she wouldn't always get what she wanted. I like to think It's because of me that Isabelle ended up how she was today. Stubborn but not spoiled, strong but not bratty.

It had been several days that I had been ignoring Isabelle, smirking behind her back whenever she went in a huff with me.

"How long are you going to tease her, it's not very nice Darling." Magnus matters to me one day as the sound of the door Isabelle had just slammed, echo's around the room. He was currently lying in my bed, writing some notes about something that I didn't really understand and I was glad I didn't need to study for.

"Until it stops being so funny," I answer simply. "And until she learns her lesson on not telling all my worst stories to my boyfriend," I say under my breath, Magnus hears it and laughs. He shoves his notes to the side then crawls across the bed to wrap his arms around my neck. I was sitting on the floor with my back to the bed, giving him perfect leverage to get to my neck.

"Aww, but I love hearing stories about you." Magnus coos then kiss the side of my jaw. "You were so cute, not as much as you are now, but still cute." I huff, pushing him away from me gently.

"Do your work Magnus, there's only a week until this is all over and we have the week to ourselves," I say to him, turning my attention back to my English notes.

Magnus hums his approval before moving back to sit on my bed. I always used the excuse of us having the whole of next week off as a way of making him do his work. He knows what I am implying when I remind him that we'll have it all to ourselves.

"Speaking of next week, Alexander," Magnus mutters after a moment, speaking around the pen that is most likely in his mouth. No matter what he is working on, whenever he is concentrating on something there has to be something in his mouth. He refuses to let me call it an oral fixation.

I allow myself to look up from my notes, intrigued by what he was going to say. I hope it wasn't along the lines of him not being able to see me next week, I really missed spending time with him, well time that wasn't mostly taken up by studying or sleeping.

"What about next week?" I ask him, a slight hint of worry in my voice that I'm hoping he doesn't pick up on.

Of course, he does.

Magnus looks up from his book to look at me, our eyes meeting and a little smile growing on his face. "Don't look so worried baby, I was just going to suggest the two of us going to my cabin for a few days before the Halloween party." Magnus looks a little anxious as he asks this. "And I know it would be a big step, considering we haven't stayed over with each other before and I swear there will be no pressure to do anything we haven't already done, and I get that your Mom might not be comfortable with-"

I shut him up my turning to sit on my knees, bringing one hand over to him to place over his still rambling mouth. "Magnus, calm the hell down," I say through a laugh. "You know I hate it when you get yourself so worked up over something that doesn't need to be stressed over." I move my hand from his mouth to his cheek, resting it there and using my thumb to stroke over his cheekbone.

"I'm sorry, I was just worried about asking you. It would be a big move for us and we haven't been dating all that long." He sighs and looks down at the bed for a moment before meeting my eyes.

"I'm glad that you asked me though. I wouldn't have wanted you to keep that hidden from me, I like that you want to move forward with us, and I do too." I say softly, leaning up to kiss him softly. "I would love to stay with you and don't worry about Mom, I think she'll just be glad I'm living my life... although I can be sure that I will be getting the talk before anything happens." I laugh, making him laugh with me.

"Oh, you poor darling." He moves up until he can put his hands on my neck. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone, the talk can scar for life." He jokes then kisses my forehead.

"You don't have to tell me that, I was the one that had both parents go through safe sex between a male and a female in intense detail. It was horrifying for an in the closet fourteen-year-old boy." Magnus is silent for a second before he bursts out laughing.

"Oh, oh my dearest." He presses his forehead against mine. "Oh you poor thing, I could only imagine how that must've been for you." His hand moves from my neck and into my hair.

I pout slightly. "It wasn't my best memory, what was even worse is that they decided that it was perfect to have it with Jace at the same time, and you know what Jace can be like. He took the whole thing as a joke and found the blush and horrified look on my face to be hilarious. He thought it was just that I was embarrassed to be talking about that with my parents, little did he know." I shake the memories from my mind, really not wanting to think about it when I was trying to spend time with my boyfriend.

"Count on Jace to make a situation worse." Magnus agrees, still smiling. "Would it be bad for me to admit I'm worried as to what he and Simon will be when they go to the party next week?" Magnus asks, a worried look on his face as he thinks of all the possibilities that Jace and Simon could be when it comes to Halloween.

"I think the important question is, what will we be? You haven't told me yet, all you said is that we're doing something together." I pull back gently to get a better look at him.

"Oh, it's a surprise, my dear." He stops to think after that. "Well, perhaps not that much of a surprise, you just have to finish Parks and Recreation, then you'll know exactly what we are going as." Magnus winks. "Lucky for us, we have all of next week to catch up with it and I already have the costumes," Magnus informs me.

"You really think three steps ahead, don't you?" I ask with a small fond smile on my face.

Magnus scoffs like he was offended or something. "Of course I must! nothing would get done without me and if I weren't always ahead then everyone would fall behind because they wouldn't know where to go." Magnus defends himself.

I kiss the offended look on his face. "That is true, I'd still be lost if it weren't for you to show me the way here," I say against his lips before pressing one more soft kiss against his shocked lips.

"Alexander-" Magnus tries, but he can't seem to find the words to say after my unusually bold statement. He suddenly takes a deep breath and opens his mouth. "Alexander I know it's soon but I lo-"

"Alec!" Max suddenly bounds into the room, stopping slightly when he sees the condition Magnus and are in. He looks confused for a moment, not quite old enough to understand what was going on. "Whatever," he mumbles before coming further into the room. "Mom said that you and Magnus have to join us for dinner, she said you were working yourself too hard." He tells us.

Magnus pulls back quickly and busies himself with getting off the bed. I notice that his face had gone slightly red as if he were embarrassed about something. There wasn't really anything that could've embarrassed him unless he was embarrassed by Max? but being walked in on had never bothered him before... and it did happen a lot with our friends and my siblings.

Unless it had to do with what he was about to say, if it really embarrassed him then I didn't want to bring it up, just in case now he didn't want to talk about it when we were out of the moment we were just having.

"Okay Maxi, we'll be down in a moment," I said before standing up beside Magnus.

Max leaves the room, leaving Magnus and me alone again. I couldn't help but ask what it was that he was going to say. "Mag's what was it you were going to tell me before Max came in, sorry about that, my siblings are always interrupting." I take his hand in mine, leading us both towards the door.

Magnus just shakes his head as we both exit the room and begin to make our way to the stairs. "Oh, it was nothing of importance just now, we can talk later." He says with a small, slightly sad smile on his face.

It hurt me to see the small amount of sadness on his face, but I also didn't want to push him away by forcing him to tell me. So I would wait until he was ready to tell me on his own.

"Okay Magnus, I'll wait until your ready, no pressure." I kiss his cheek as we reach the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you, Alexander." Magnus breaths then a real smile takes over his face.

I was happy to see him happy again. And I loved that I was the one who was able to make him happy.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

 

**Chapter Twenty-Eight:**

**Alec-**

My bed had never looked as appealing as it did right now, only half an hour after my last mock exam. For only being a mock, it was sure difficult.

But it was over now and I had a full week to get over the stress and exhaustion that came with the exams. Hopefully, I will get to see Magnus after he is finished with his last exam for the day. He has one more tomorrow then he will be done, but that might mean that I won't get to see him as he will be too busy studying and I'll probably just pass out anyway.

As much as I want to just pass out right now, standing here staring at my bed like I was a starving man and my bed was a four-course meal. I knew I couldn't right now as Jace had invited Simon, Clary, and Maia over to celebrate the end of their exams too. Which probably means that I will be entertaining and hang out with Clary and Maia, whilst Jace and Simon retire to Jace's room for the night to do whatever it is that they're going to do and that I would rather not think about.

They should be here any moment now so I should probably change and head downstairs to make sure we have enough snacks to fill my greedy friends. Half of the snacks will probably be stolen by Jace and Simon anyway, as Jace told me, in way too much detail, how hungry he gets after sex.

It was another thing I wasn't going to put too much thought into, just to save me from mentally scarring myself.

Just as I was about to head to my dresser to find some comfortable clothes, I hear my phone buzzing from inside my jacket pocket. I cross over to the bed, the place I had flung my jacket only moments ago, to retrieve my phone and see who was calling me. I wasn't expecting a call from anyone as the only people I was expecting to hear from today were only going to be here in a moment or two.

Once I had my phone in my hand I look down to see that it is an unknown number. I also notice that I had several missed calls from said number, that probably happened when my phone was off during the exam.

Usually, I wouldn't answer an unknown number but they clearly needed something from me if they were willing to call me this many times. So before the person hung up, I slid the answer button on my phone, then I press it to my ear.

"Hello?" I question, a little unsure and a bit worried as to what to expect from whoever it was.

**"Hello, Alexander." Whoever the person was is a female and there was a slyness to the way she said my name that made me instantly distrust her.**

"Uh, who is this?" I ask the woman, starting to get a little more worried now.

**"Aw, don't be like that Alexander, you've heard all about me from your friends... Jace, Magnus and Simon for example." I feel my heart stop in my chest when I realized who I was on the phone too. It was this Camille, the one who got a kick out of manipulating teenage boys.**

"Why are you calling me, Camille." I snap into the phone. I start to pace around the room as horrible thoughts start coming into my head as to why Camille would call me, of all people.

**"So rude Alexander, I wonder what Magnus sees in you." Camille almost snarls into the phone before speaking again. "I'm calling you Alexander because I'm bored and you took my toy away from me, so now I have to take something away from you." She says, this time it was in a more cheerful voice.**

"You're not going to take anything from me, you have nothing over me." I shakily say into the phone, desperately wishing someone was in the house with me right now because I couldn't deal with this right now. I had no idea why or what she is going to do to me.

**"Oh ho, but I do Alexander. You may not know this but I was quite close to your father when we were younger, and we still keep up to date now. Imagine my surprise when I found out that his son was dating my Magnus... he was sure angry when I told him that not only you but your "brother" Jace had managed to make such a mockery out of him by getting together with boys. He was very disgusted to hear about this." Camille laughs a little.**

"What did you do." I feel all the blood draining from my face and a lump was growing in my throat.

 **"Well, I know many people Alexander and I managed to find a little flaw in your parent's divorce agreements and with only a little effort you could all be taken from your mother in a heartbeat."** I feel myself sinking to my knees. **"So, you are going to do what I tell you or your siblings are going to suffer... even little Maxie." Camille's voice goes up a pitch when she says Max's name.**

"Don't you dare do anything to Max, he has done nothing wrong... he needs to be with my mom, he just needs to be." I feel my voice shake and I feel like I'm about to cry.

 **"Daddy dearest doesn't agree. Considering not only have you turned out a fag under her parenting skills, but it seems like Jace has also stooped to your filthy level."** I feel the tears leak out of my eyes.

"Stop it. please just stop it." I sob into the phone.

**"Stop being so pathetic. You are going to give me what I want, if you don't then not only will you return to your father, you and your brothers will all be sent to separate boarding schools that will beat the disease out of you. As for your sister, she will be sent to an all girls school in England." Camille seems so pleased with herself.**

"Y-you can't do this." I cry.

**"I can and I will. Now, this is what I want you to do... I want you to break Magnus' heart and this is how you are going to do it. You are going to cheat on him with one of my other fag's that need to be taught a lesson. And I want you to make sure it really hurt's if you don't then it's bye bye to your domestic bliss." Camille laughs at the silence I give her. "You have 1 hour to decide or I contact your father."**

And with that, she hangs up the phone.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

 

**Chapter Twenty-Nine:**

**Alec-**

My heart physically hurt as I walked down the long pathway that led to a small pond that rested near the meadow. There will be the thing that ruins everything I have managed to build in my time here. As this night comes to an end I know I will end up exactly the way I was back home in New York.

Only this time I won't only be ignored, I will be hated by all those who know me or know about Magnus and I. As much as it hurts to think of that happening, I know it would be even worse if I allowed Camille to go through with her threat.

I won't just be away from Magnus and my friends, but I will be taken away from my mother and sent to some boarding school that has beliefs and morals stuck somewhere in the eighteenth century. I wouldn't get to see any of my siblings and my innocent little brother will be sent to a school that will ruin him. I didn't- no I couldn't let that happen.

This was the best of two options because this way, my family will be happy and even though I will lose my friends and Magnus, they will all find happiness again, even if that happiness is without me.

I could-

No. I am forced to live with that.

As I near the pond, I see two figures standing on the bridge that rests along the pond. They were standing huddled into each other, one was obviously comforting the other. The smaller one had his head hidden in the taller one's neck as the taller one nuzzled his face in the smaller one's hair and stroked up and down his back.

A feeling of dread sneaks up on me as I get closer, something about the two of them is familiar-

The taller one suddenly glances up at me and there I see, Will Herondale and in his arms was Jem.

I stop dead in my tracks, standing just at the edge of the bridge watching as Will's face slowly grows sad when he see's me.

"No she's not... she can't." Will holds Jem closer as Jem tries to turn around and see who was there. "Not to Magnus- not again." Will is mumbling nonsense as he presses his face closer into Jem's hair.

"What's going on- why are you here?" I ask, my voice shaking as much as my body had begun too.

My head comes up with a realization that everything that happened with Jem was just a plot. What if Camille made him and Will do everything they did to Magnus and I?

It seems to be that way, I've never seen two people who are just fucking for fun, treat each other the way Jem and Will are treating each other right now.

"I'm so sorry- Alec I'm so sorry she's doing this, that she managed to drag you into her little games." Will seriously seems to be on the verge of crying now and I feel like I am not too far behind him. Everything suddenly comes crashing down on me, they didn't want to do this and I didn't want to do this so that must mean that Camille has something over the both of them. Something that they were willing to do anything to hide.

At the mention of my name, Jem jerks himself away from Will so he is able to turn around. He, unlike Will, wasn't hiding the fact that he was flat out crying. The pain goes through me at the sight of him, he so clearly feels something for Will.

"Oh Alec, I'm so sorry." Jem suddenly walks down the bridge to me and throws his arms around me, my arms come up to hug him back without a second thought to is. "I didn't know it was you, I already hurt you because of her and I'm so sorry that this has to happen to you and Magnus." Jem pulls back to look at me. "I'm sorry for what I did. Camille likes to use me to find more targets for her sick games and I'm so sorry that you became one of them." Jem looks wrecked. "I swear I'm not like this, I've never wanted to hurt someone the way I hurt you- I only wanted to be with Will but she-" Jem chokes on a sob. "And now she's stopping you from being with Magnus." His hands come up to fist in his hair. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't messed up with you before then this would never have happened." Will comes down then to wrap an arm around Jem's waist, pressing a kiss to his head as he does so.

"What he's trying to say is that Camille likes to use us to play games with others and what we did to you and Magnus, wasn't our choice... I used to be so close with him and now he hated me, all because of her and I'm sorry that you are being forced to do the same thing." Will looks down at Jem, who was hiding his face in Will's neck, trying to calm himself down.

"This whole time- how long has she been doing this to you?" I ask, sadness creeping into my voice as I watch this couple, who are so obviously in love with each other, suffering because of some blackmailing bitch.

I know that soon enough Magnus and I will be the same, only I won't have Magnus like Will and Jem have each other. I'll just be left alone, no one knowing what had happened and what I had to do to make sure I kept everyone safe and happy.

I was the oldest sibling, the only older male they had... it was my job to put them before myself.

"A couple of months now. Ever since she found out something bad that happened to Jem in his old school. It's not my place to say what it is. She got her claws into me through the drama in my family, I don't know how she did it but not too long ago she held the fact that she found my lost cousin over my head, ending what Jem and I had together. If I didn't do what she said then I would never find out where he was or if he was okay." Will shakes his head sadly, and for some reason, I couldn't help myself.

I just had to tell him.

"He's okay," I say softly, moving my eyes from Jem until I have met Will's eyes.

"What?" Will asks as Jem also chooses this moment to look up at me.

"Your cousin... he's okay, and he's here," I say and it seemed as if every single muscle in his body had just given up, making him let go of Jem and sink to the floor.

Jem seemed to have sensed that this was hard for Will and had decided to do the rest of the talking. "You know who he is?" He asks me, raising one skeptical eyebrow.

I nod my head once. "I've known for a month or so, I just haven't said anything because I don't think he is ready, especially after everything that has happened to him. He was also targeted by Camille." I say and a pained noise comes out of Will's throat just as tears stream down his face. "I know this is hard... but if anything could make this whole thing better, it's if you know who he is and it will give him the chance to know his family," I say and Will only nod his head.

"Who?" Will almost gasp out.

Jem then kneels down beside him to press a kiss to his temple in comfort.

"It's my brother, in everything but blood," I say and I didn't even have to say his name for Will to understand.

"Jace? oh god...I can see it now." Will gasps through his tears. "He looks so much like my Uncle Stephen- how did I not see it before." Will rests his head against Jem's. "I can't believe it, he's been right under my nose this whole time." He smiles softly and it makes Jem smiled slightly back at him.

"Please be patient with him," I say suddenly. "He's been through more than you know, don't force him into seeing the rest of your family. Please get to know him first and please-" They both look up at me then, hearing the way my voice breaks. "Make sure he is happy," I say because I know that after tonight, he will be so mad at me. I'll become everything my family wouldn't want me to be.

Will's face grows sad again and with one sad whimper he pushes away from Jem and stalks away from the both of us. He doesn't look back as he vanishes through the tree's, leaving Jem and I standing there. The both of us ready to break ourselves for the one's we loved.

Standing here now, I was beginning to wonder if it was even worth it. Was breaking my heart and Magnus' really worth it?

The faces of my siblings reminds me that yes. It had to be worth it.

* * *

Walking home, my whole body felt like lead.

It had been done, and any moment now I was going to have to face the fact that my cheating on Magnus had now gone public, thanks to a well timed appearance from one of the school's biggest gossips. I had already seen the picture of Jem and I making out, three times in the past ten minutes since I left Jem.

I was now almost home. A place where I didn't want to be right now because of all the times I had there with Magnus. I also know that I'm going to be faced with Jace and Isabelle, both of them are going to be so disappointed in me and I could hardly bare to think of it.

I was about to lose them both, just like how I lost Magnus.

The worst thing was that it wasn't even over. I had to hurt him even more because simply cheating on Magnus wasn't enough for Camille.

Arriving home seemed to me like walking towards the gates of hell. I knew there was no turning back now, I had to face the heat for what just happened.

I push open to the door and I'm suddenly met by a wall of shouting. There was clearly more than just my family home, and judging by what they were saying, they all knew exactly what was going on.

"What do you mean we don't know if it really happened or not! It's right there, they're all over each other!" I wince at the voice because it was the first time I had ever heard her shout, and boy could Catarina apparently shout. "I'll kill him when I see him, that cheating bastard!" My whole body goes cold and I fall against the still open door, causing it to shut with a small slam.

Suddenly the shouting from the front room dies down and moments later I hear footsteps.

It's now or never.

Before whoever it was, came through to see me, I push myself upright and force an almost smug look on my face before making my way towards the living room, almost running straight into a fuming looking Isabelle.

"Alexander Gideon Lightwood, I swear to god if this is true I will kill you." She looks like she is about to slap me.

I just scoff before pushing past her into the room to see that if this whole thing hadn't of happened, I would've been spending tonight with Magnus.

I could barely force myself to look at him, sitting on the sofa surrounded by Clary, Ragnor, and Raphael, looking slightly devastated.

"Looks like we're having a party then," I state before turning to walk towards the kitchen.

I barely took three steps before Jace is blocking my way. "You asshole, what the fuck is wrong with you- tell me you didn't actually do this?" Jace looks just as angry as Isabelle.

"If you are referring to Jem, then I'm sorry but I'm going to have to say I did," I say with a smug shrug of my shoulders. A small whimper from the couch breaks my heart but I refuse to let it show on my face, especially not when I hear Magnus ask simply:

"Why?" He almost breaths out.

I take a moment to mentally prepare myself for the sight of Magnus, but nothing could prepare me for how he looked.

All I wanted to do in that moment is yank him into my arms and tell him I was sorry and that I loved him-

It was in that moment, I felt my whole world fall around me. I loved him, holy shit I loved Magnus.

"It's simple really. I played you, God I thought Jem was lying when he told me how fun it could be. Did you really think that after spending so much time alone, I was willing to forgive the fact that people are shit? Fuck that, I never wanted anything to do with you until Jem told me how fun it could be to play with someone the way I played with you." I laugh slightly even though all I wanted to do is break down crying.

A change of emotion on Magnus' face makes me feel slightly better because it's no longer sad, it's filled with complete and utter anger.

Before anyone could stop him, he is standing and rushing towards me, landing a very precise slap to my face before grabbing my jacket in his hands. "Fuck you! fuck you Alexander Lightwood- please, just please say you are joking, that none of this is real." He is crying but I could still see the anger in his eyes.

"Stop being pathetic Magnus, just face the facts." I push him off me gently, no matter what I had to do, I would never physically hurt Magnus.

Magnus' face drops and his body sags as reality hits him.

"I hate you." He whispers suddenly before smacking me again "I HATE YOU!" He screams before dropping to the floor in tears.

That was the final straw for me. If I stayed here a moment longer I would break and the truth would come out.

So with a scoff and a whispered "pathetic" I stride out of the room. I all but run up the stairs, hoping that the door to my bedroom would block out the sounds of Magnus' cries.

It doesn't.

And to make things worse. There, hanging above my bed was a banner saying "Congratulations Baby!" I let the tears fall as I cross over to my bed, finding a handmade card sitting on my pillow. My hands shake as I open it:

**My Darling!**

**I hope to be there to see you open this as it's a very important moment for me right now. as I've said before**   
**this is the first time I have ever felt something so strongly for someone, more strongly than I have told you,**   
**up until now. This is a good night for me to tell you after we're both so happy to be done with exams! Not only**   
**to know that, I know we're moving forward with our relationship and before we go on our trip, I want to know that... I love you-"**

I drop the card back onto my bed.

The words swirl around my brain as the sound of Magnus crying still floats up the stairs.

With a low cry, I barge my way into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me before lashing out at my counter, sending several things flying, including my razors.

I watch them all clatter to the floor, the bottle to my body wash opening and spilling red soap over the floor and the other things lying on the floor.

I fall to my knees when the sight of the red liquid crosses over the razors. Thoughts of my past come swirling back to the present and I could see, the one time I got low enough to hurt myself only to be found by Isabelle straight away.

Back then I did it because I thought I deserved it for being gay as if I could bleed the gayness out of me. Isabelle told me that was stupid and that I would never deserve to hurt because I was too good.

But- I'm not good anymore... I hurt people tonight, that made me bad... what if I deserved the pain now?

Surely Isabelle would agree- bad people deserve bad things.

Tears stream down my face as I notice that during my little trip down memory lane, I had already picked up the razor and held against my wrist, not moving it just yet.

I wanted to, God I wanted to now more than ever but part of me was trying to convince myself that I wasn't the bad guy, Camille was the one who hurt Magnus. I was just a pawn in her game, I was just trying to make sure my loved ones were happy.

But, I failed at that because I loved Magnus... and he wasn't happy.

I was a bad person, Camille made me into a bad person and this was something I deserved to do.

With that thought, I push down hard against my wrist before jerking it roughly to the left, then doing it again and again and again until the razor numbly falls from my hand and I'm left sobbing against the bath, accepting the pain I deserved.


	30. Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty:

Alec-

As I continued to lay in my bathroom, my wrist throbbing and resting on the floor beside me where I couldn't see it. I could hear slamming doors and shouts, most of them sounding like Isabelle. I couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but I had no doubt in my mind that it was something about me.

I close my eyes, trying to think of anything to distract me from the voices, or to perhaps send me to sleep quicker. There was a heavy weight behind my eyes and the further I sat on that bathroom flood, not doing anything about my situation, the worse the weight got and the more I just wanted to fall asleep.

I don't know why a part of me was fighting so hard to make sure I kept my eyes open. It was probably the same part of me that didn't want me to do what I just did.

I knew that this was all wrong, I shouldn't have allowed Camille to do this to me. I shouldn't have allowed her to turn me into someone I'm not, to hurt the people I loved just because she was some sick bitch who got off on torturing teenagers.

I just needed someone to know that, but I was just so tied now.

It was just to easy to close my eyes, even just for a moment.

That's until the sound of my bedroom door slamming open startles my eyes open again.

"Alec you better tell me what the fuck is going on because this is not you." Isabelle yells before realizing I wasn't in the room.

I struggle to sit up but my whole body was just too heavy, causing me to fall further against the floor instead. It caused enough noise for Isabelle to know I was in there, and apparently, she had no concern for any privacy as she slammed the door open. There were angry tears on her face.

"You son of a bitch-" Her words catch in her throat as her eyes finally take in the sight before her. I wince when she suddenly lets out a loud shriek of horror before she's falling to her knee's beside me, her jeans getting ruined from the body wash that had spilled out onto the bathroom floor. "Oh no no, what have you done- Alec why." Her angry tears have been replaced with real tears as she pulls me to rest on her legs and torso. She is gripping for a towel that was resting by the sink, and she uses it to wrap around my wrist. "JACE!" She half screams out the bathroom door.

"Srry-" I gasp into the fabric of her shirt. "I- let..." I take a deep breath around the tiredness that's becoming worse and worse now. "Camille-" I manage to get out before someone else is running into the room.

"Isabelle- holy shit what..."

"Call for an ambulance, please Jace please, he's falling- Alec! don't you dare sleep!" Isabelle smacks my cheeks slightly to make sure I stayed awake. I hadn't even noticed myself falling asleep.

"My phone-" Jace suddenly takes off out of the room again, leaving Isabelle with me, her still sobbing as I try to fight to get the words out that I'm trying to say.

"Alec, it's okay shh just try to stay awake for me." Isabelle says softly whilst stroking back the hair on my face.

"No- Magnus...needs to know." I tell her, a sudden wave of energy passing over me as I fight to tell her the truth that I should've said way before now, before I let Camille hurt me this way. "I didn't- Camille made me please!" I end the sentence begging as I'm suddenly getting short for breath. "L-love him." I tell her before slumping down again.

"JACE HURRY PLEASE!" Isabelle is screaming again but it all sounds so far away now.

Isabelle is calling my name, trying to remind me to stay awake, but I feel better knowing that she knows that this is somehow linked to Camille, maybe she could put a stop to it if I'm not around. I hope she does because Camille shouldn't have gotten away with this for so long. It wasn't fair on Jace, or Magnus, or even Jem and Will. She's hurt them all so bad, she hurt me by making me hurt Magnus and it's time she was stopped.

I hoped Isabelle could do that for me.

It was then that I let myself fall asleep.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Who the hell taught you to play this game? whoever it was should be stopped from ever playing."

I open my eyes to the sound of bickering from somewhere beside me. My eyes slamming shut after I open them because the bright light of the room was so unexpected and hurt slightly. I instead turn my head to the side so I'm no longer looking directly into the light.

On my right, I see that the two people that were bickering was Isabelle and Jace. Their arguing makes sense once I see that they're playing a game of monopoly with Max at the side, looking down at his cards and such with a slightly confused look on his face. I don't think he fully knew what he was doing.

"Hey, you are just jealous that I'm beating you at it. You have always been a sore loser Jace." Isabelle giggles as she reaches into the middle of the board to take a pile of money. "Thank you, all of this will go to good use, and by good use, I mean beating you." Jace glares at her before picking up the dice.

I stop paying attention there. Now too busy looking at myself as the memories of what happened suddenly make themselves known. I look down at my wrist to see that it was now heavily bandaged with pristine white bandages, and somewhere at my side there was a drip filled with blood, obviously replenishing what I had lost. I look away from it, not too fond on the idea of someone's else's blood being pumped into my body.

"Hah! what luck do you have to end up in Jail!" Isabelle is laughing loudly and the sounds makes me smile slightly. I suddenly feel as if everything I had done was worth it, just to see them all together and having fun the way they are. It was everything I wanted them to have with each other.

"You're as bad as Magnus, I'm just glad he's finally out." Jace grumbles.

My head snaps to the other side of the room, wondering just what in the world he was talking about.

I'm surprised to see Magnus, passed out on the small couch next to the door. He had a blanket draped over him and he was using a bundled up jacket as a pillow. Couldn't they have given him a real pillow? surely that couldn't be comfortable.

"I can still here you Jace." I jump slightly when Magnus speaks, as I so thought he was sleeping.

"I know." Jace answers simply before looking up at where Magnus lies. "That's why I-" Jace stops short. I look around to see what had happened, it's all answered when I meet his eyes. "It will forever freak me out just how quiet you can be." He says breathlessly before getting up and moving to come beside me. "You-" Jace looks mad for all of three second before he suddenly bursts into tears. "Don't you ever fucking do that to me again." He almost growls.

"Alec!" Max scrambles to come stand next to me then looks up at Jace. "Should I get Mom?" He asks, eyes wide and tired.

"Go." Jace agrees then Max is almost running out of the room.   
  
"Should I call those officers? now that he is awake?" Isabelle asks, her face ashen.

"Give him a moment to breathe." Jace says softly to her. "We don't want to throw this all at him straight away, especially not after what just happened. It will be up to you Alec, talk whenever you want to, we've all already given our statements." Jace pulls up the chair next to the bed and sits on it.

"What?" I ask, not quite sure what they were on about.

"What you did was the last straw. Mom called the police as soon as you were out of danger." Jace tells me. "Isabelle told us all what you said before passing out. That Camille made you do it and we all kind of connected the dot's slightly. It was all confirmed though when Will and Jem showed up to give their statements on Camille, that's when Jem told us what you and he did." I close my eyes at that, allowing my head to fall back against my pillows.

"I had to." I mumble, feeling tears building in my eyes. "I didn't want to- I really did not want to do it, to the point where it hurt." By this point I'm no longer talking to Jace nor Isabelle. I was directing this right at Magnus, almost begging him to know that I didn't want to do it. "I had to though or we'd all be taken away from Mom- Dad was going to send Jace and I to schools that used beating as a way of curing gayness." I gasp as the tears that had been building, finally fall free. "He was going to send Max too, and I couldn't- he's so young, he shouldn't be forced to face that." I'm sobbing now.

"He couldn't have Alec, Mum won custody-" Isabelle starts but stops when I shake my head.

"She has friends in powerful places that she could get to help Robert win us back. I don't know how but she can." I raise my arm to wipe away my tears, ignoring the still throbbing pain in my wrist, only wincing softly as the wrong move pulls the skin tightly.

"Not now. Not when people find out that he was a reason for you wanting to kill yourself." Jace states bluntly and it makes me flinch. Him saying it out loud suddenly made it all so real. I had almost died, if it weren't for Isabelle, I would be dead right now.

"Enough Jace." Isabelle steps forward to place her hands on my face. "Shh Alec, it's going to be okay." Isabelle seemed to know what was happening in my mind right now.

I shake as I pull her into a one armed hug. "Thank you." I whisper as she hugs me back.

"Alec, you're my big brother. Of course I'm going to notice when you are not yourself. I think I was the only one who noticed how much pain you were in when you said all that you said." She pulls back. "I know you better than anyone Alec, I could see how much you didn't want to do what you did." She strokes my hair once.

"Seemed pretty convincing on my end." I look away from Isabelle to see that Magnus was the one who spoke. He is no longer sitting on the sofa. He is now standing looking like he wasn't sure if he should leave or not.

I don't think I have ever felt this weird to be around him. Ever since the start we had hit it off straight away, with hardly any awkwardness, but now it's different. I wasn't sure what I should do or say to him.

"Just tell me the truth." Magnus seemed to have read my mind.

"We'll wait outside the door." Isabelle mumbles before pulling Jace out of the room, leaving Magnus and I alone.

"Did you mean anything you said?" Magnus asks, not meeting my eyes as he fiddled with the sleeves on his shirt, correct that actually. Fiddled with the sleeves on one of my shirts.

"No." I say simply. "I would never play you, ever." Magnus looks up then, tears in his eyes.

"I hate you." He says and I once again feel my whole world fall around me.

"I understand-"

"No, I hate you for being so fucking stupid but I know that you're not because I would've done the same- GOD, I just hate you so much because that's easier to say right now than I love you." Magnus strides closer to me. "I hate you but I don't." He takes my face in his hands. "you almost died." He suddenly sobs "I hate you because you almost died- you almost left me before we even got any chance. There's still so much I want to do with you, to experience with you-"

I bring my hand up to touch his, keeping the one with the IV on the bed. "I love you." I say, letting him know that even though it was too hard for him to say, I wanted him to know that it was returned.

Magnus just whimpers and hides his face in my neck. "Please never do this to yourself again Alexander- I'll always be here for you if you ever feel the need." Magnus slides his hand into my hair, as he and I both knew that it was now something that I would be comforted by as it was just so familiar and intimate between the two of us.

"I will." I mumble into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry." I then proceed to whisper. "I never want to see you that way again, I almost broke when I saw you so upset." I pull him closer until he is sitting on the bed with me. "I don't think I could ever forget it, and I will never forgive myself." Flashes of seeing Magnus so devastated.

"I didn't want to believe what you were saying. I hated you so much in that moment because I had allowed myself to love you." Magnus shakes his head.

"I'm sorry- I can't believe I did this to you, after what you did for me that day." I think bad to the homemade card and banner Magnus had made, simply for me finishing my mock exams. Something someone wouldn't usually even get a congratulations for.

Magnus smiled. "I just wanted you to know I was proud." Magnus says softly, pulling back to touch my face again. "God I don't want to let you go again." He pulls me back into a hug. "I never want to lose you. You are the most amazing person I have ever met, don't ever think you deserve to die." Magnus kicks off his shoes before curling up next to me, placing his head on my shoulder and holding me in a tight hug. "If I have too, I will spend everyday reminding you that you are not the bad guy here, you don't deserve pain. The only person who deserves anything bad is Camille and she's going to get it now." Magnus uses his hand to turn my head to the side. "We're going to be okay?" He asks in a way that sounds a little lie a question whilst also sounding like a statement.

Hoping that it would be okay, I lean down for a quick chaste kiss. "We're going to be okay." I answer once I pull back.

"I hate you." He whispers sadly before leaning up to kiss me again, soft and timid like he's afraid of hurting me.

"I love you too." I say back to him when he pulls away to lean against my shoulder. "We're going to get through this, we're going to stay strong and watch as Camille get's what she deserves." I rest my head against his just as the door opens and Mom walks in with two people who must be police. "Here we go." I whisper under my breath before taking Magnus' hand.

"I'm right here." Magnus whispers back and there is something silent that he never said but I got from him anyway.

He would always be right there.


	31. Chapter Thirty-One

 

 

**Chapter Thirty-One:**

**Alec-**

"I thought they would never leave," Mom complains as the door shuts behind the two cops that had just left the room after almost two hours of questioning me and, sometimes, Magnus.

"You can say that again." Magnus gives my hand a squeeze before standing up to stretch his legs. "I'm going to call my Mom then grab something from the vending machine, should I get anything?" He then asks both Mom and me.

I notice a look of gratitude on Mom's face and I realize that Magnus wanted to give Mom the time to talk to me about what happened. It must've been hard for her to come home from work to find out that I had taken a mental turn and "cheated" on my boyfriend before trying to commit suicide. I know she was going to be blaming herself, I know that because I got my ability to take all the blame on myself, from her.

"I could use a drink, and maybe some chocolate?" I ask him before remembering that I didn't actually have any money on me to give him. "I will have to give you money after I get home... is that okay?" I ask him. He scoffs in reply.

"Don't be silly Alexander, don't worry about paying me back." Magnus leans down to kiss my cheek before sending a look towards Mom, looking to see if she wanted anything.

"I'm fine, thank you." She gives a small shake of her head before smiling at him. There was a look in her eyes that I had never seen before. It was a kind of fondness that looked like the sort of thing she would give us or a close friend but it was also mixed with something else that I couldn't quite think of.

"I'll be back in a moment." He winks at me before slowly making his way out of the door, closing it quietly behind him as he goes.

After the small echo of the door closing vanishes, Mom and I are left in a tense silence.

It doesn't last very long before Mom comes over to stand next to my bed, reaching out to take the hand of my good arm. "Alec-" She starts, voice shaking as she tries to get out what she wants to say. "I- I'm so sorry." She reaches out with her spare hand, pushing my hair out of the way until she has a better look at my face.

I look up at her, confused as to why she was sorry. "Why?" I ask, unable to keep quiet.

A tear slips out of Mom's eyes. "This is my fault, and your fathers." She starts and I'm silent, not sure where this was going. "We should've paid more attention, I should've noticed the kind of man your father was and left him long ago. He shouldn't be able to still have enough control over your life to allow something like this to happen." She sobs silently as she speaks and I feel a small pain in my stomach as I see her this upset. "And I should be there for you, after everything that happened with your father and all the problems you had back at school there, I should've been there for you to talk too." She pulls one hand back to wipe her wet cheeks. "I should not only be realizing this now. This was something I should've thought about long ago- before my baby almost died." She is shaking now as she talks.

I want to tell her that it wasn't her fault because it wasn't technically her fault... but some of the points she made are valid. I should be able to talk to my Mom about this stuff, but I've never really felt like I could. After hiding so much from her for so long, I just don't see her as the person I can go too. If she was then maybe I would've told her about what Camille wanted me to do, I could've stopped this before it happened.

I needed that sort of adult in my life, I needed her then and I didn't notice it until now. She would've been the only one to have a reasonable look on how to deal with what I was going through. The people I usually talk too wouldn't have been much help as we are all so young. If I spoke to them and they did something stupid to try and get back at Camille then I wouldn't know what would've happened with us. I didn't know if we would still be taken away because Dad still had the power to do it. I know Isabelle would try to go for Camille herself, that would've done more damage than good.

I also couldn't have spoken to anyone older that wasn't Mom. No matter who I would've spoken too, Dad would have found out and he would've taken us away.

I really didn't have a choice of who I could talk too about it. Mom seemed to like the only person it could have been because it involved her. I could've told her in advance, I could have told her the power Dad had and what would happen if he got to use that power over her.

Instead of telling Mom she was wrong, I just reach up to pull her into a hug. "You will be now, Mom... I know that I can talk to you now and I know you will try to prove yourself to me and I'm thankful for that." I say to her, her arms automatically coming around to hold me tightly.

"I will, I know that until this is all gong to be hard. Everything with Camille is going to be hard but I am going to be there throughout it all and I'm not going to let your father near any of you and neither will my lawyers." I chuckle slightly at that last part because I know just how ruthless Mom's lawyers could be.

Mom pulls back then before placing her hands on my cheeks. "Don't let what she did to you ruin what you have with your friends. What you have is special so hang onto them, no matter what she does to you." Her hands fall to my shoulders. "Protect what you have because they are the people you are going to need right now." I nod my head slowly at her words.

"I will, I won't let her do this to me again. I'm so angry that I allowed her to hurt me this way." I answer honestly, thinking back to the pain I felt when I saw how badly I was hurting Magnus, and the pain shared between Will and Jem. They deserved to be together after everything they have been made to do and no one should be mad at them for what they have done. I don't even know just how bad it was for them and I hate that I was one of those people that were used against them.

"Good." Mom nods her head then leans forward to kiss my forehead.

A timid knock on the door stops us from saying anything else. A second later the door opens and Magnus peaks his head in. "Sorry to interrupt-"

"It's okay Magnus," Mom calls to him then turns to me again. "I'm going to go call the lawyers to give feedback of what you said. I think they might want to talk to you once you're out of this place." She tells me then with a fond smile she walks out of the room.

Magnus comes back in and closes the door before walking back to the bed and climbing on the foot of it.

"Dinner is served." He proclaims before setting out all of the food that had been in his hands, onto the bed. "And next time, it's on you." He jokes, watching as I sit myself further up on the bed, pressing the button to raise the bed up so I was comfortable.

"That I can do, but perhaps next time it will be a little more romantic," I suggest with a smirk.

He fake gasps, his hand flying to his chest. "Darling... are you really suggesting that I do not know how to romance my man? After all of this gourmet food and drink, I have prepared this evening." He sadly shakes his head. "You wound me." He pretends to wipe away a tear.

I snort at his behavior before leaving over to be a little closer to him. "Thank you, Magnus, I love it." I take his hand, "and I love you. I will never doubt your romance skills again." Magnus smiles at that.

I ignore that part of me what whimpers when he doesn't say 'I love you back'. It was hard knowing he did but not hearing it, but I knew how hard it was going to be for him after everything I said and the fact that I was being forced to, I cheated on him with someone that had hurt us before.

It would get better and I was thankful that he had forgiven me, but I knew he was going to need some time before he fully felt comfortable enough to tell me he loved me back. Until that moment, I still had the little note in my room somewhere that reminded me that he did love me.

"You have learned before to never doubt me, Alexander." Magnus also moves in closer to me, pressing a kiss to my slightly clammy forehead. "But I will forgive you for doing it again. Shall we eat?" He asks then moves back away from me, putting quite a distance between us. I frown slightly at that because he was fine before, he was more than happy to sit in my arms, but now he seems to be trying to pull away.

I wasn't going to question it now, hopefully, it will all blow over.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's eat."


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two:

Alec-

By the time I had been released out of the hospital, we had reached the first day of the week off we had. It was always given after a hard week of pre-exams, even though we had the exam week off to study, this holiday was more like a time for us to relax and recover from the week before.

For me, recovery meant that I was bed ridden for two days with Mom coming in to check on me every five minutes. It was also the time that I spoke to Mom's lawyers and found out that Dad had no idea who Camille was and that the whole divorce agreement thing was a lie to get me to do what Camille said.

I had found that out this morning and ever since then, I have felt more used than ever. Everything that I had done was for nothing. All the pain I caused Magnus, my family and friends, even Jem and Will suffered from this.

I just felt dirty and wrung out now, and the fact that I was shut up in my room was making it all worse because I knew that whilst I was here in bed, Isabelle and Jace were at Maia's again.

So I was once again alone.

A knock on my bedroom door, however, proved that I might not be as alone as I thought.

"Come in!" I call to whoever was on the other side of the door. I was hoping that it was Isabelle or Magnus, someone who thought to have come home to keep me company.

I was surprised however to see that on the other side of the door stood Will and Jem. In their hands, I could see a small gift bag and a hand sized balloon with "Get Well Soon" written across is in bubbly writing.

"Hey, guys?" I say as they come further into the room, they both look completely wrecked. "What are you doing here?" I then proceed to ask before pushing myself further up the bed.

"We just heard what happened to you and we wanted to come and tell you how sorry we are," Jem answered as Will shut the door behind them. "If I had known how you felt, I would've never agreed to Camille's plan. No matter what she had over my head." Jem came over to sit next to me on the bed, Will joining him a moment later.

I shake my head at him. "Look Jem, I didn't even know that I would react the way I did- it's just when I saw how much I h-hurt..." I break off as flashes of Magnus' face came back to mind. Will reach out to take my hand in comfort, understanding that this was hard for me. "I hurt him so much, and I could tell that all my family was disappointed in me and I just couldn't handle the idea of losing any of them." I finish, squeezing onto Will's hand in comfort.

Jem looks down at the bed sheets. "I can't believe this is all happening- I also can't get over the fact that it might end- Finally." Jem sighs and closes his eyes. "I can't wait for it to be over." He leans back against Will, who wraps his free arm around Jem's waist to take his hand.

"The police came to our home and asked for statements, I'm guessing one of you told them that we were a part of this?" Will asks, looking at me.

"It must've been Simon or Magnus, I don't think Jace knows all too much. He's just worried about this coming to light and your family finds out." I say to him and a flash of pain crosses his face at the mention of Jace. "Have you... have you spoken to Jace yet?" I ask him, deciding to bring it up even though it looks like the thought of his lost cousin still makes him a little upset.

Will takes a deep breath before answering. "No, I haven't had the chance and I'm a little worried that if he sees me he might punch me in the face." He chuckles slightly at that. "He seems like the kind of guy who would do that for his friends." He looks at me for confirmation.

"Oh, he is definitely one of those people," I say honestly.

"That's one thing we have in common." Laughs Will, even Jem chuckles slightly in agreement.

"It can get annoying from time to time, but he wouldn't be Jace if he weren't annoying." Will just smiles at that before his face grows sad.

"I can't believe he would think that my family would hate him, I don't think my aunt or uncle would ever be happier. I mean they literally haven't seen him since he was born." Will has started to look a little frustrated with the whole thing.

"Talk to him then. Speaking to you might make him feel better about speaking to his parents." I suggest because I know that talking to Will would be good for Jace. I know deep down that all Jace wants was to know his parents, to know where he comes from and to truly know himself. I also know that he is also a little damaged when it comes to believing that he should be allowed to be happy. That is one of the main reasons why I am so glad that he has Simon. It's the first time Jace has been with someone who makes him so happy that way, not that it didn't take a lot of convincing for him to accept that.

"I will. Maybe it would be good for him to know his family when it comes to a time like this." Will say this more to himself than anyone else, as if he were trying to convince himself that it was a good idea and that it would be both for the good of them. "I just hope he doesn't punch me before I get the chance, I'm just hoping he decides to punch me over Jem, as Jem is the one who suffered more from this." Will rests his head against Jem's.

I look sadly at them. I just wish that this whole thing would be over soon and that Camille get's what she deserves so that we could al try to heal from all of what she had done to us. Those such as Magnus, Will, and Jem deserve to heal the most because it seems like they have been getting it worse and for longer than the rest of us.

It makes me sad whenever I think about how Jem must've felt that night when the picture of us went viral. Anyone who looked closely at the photo could tell that we didn't want to me there. Even though it was just us making out for a while, you could see in the way we hold ourselves and the looks on our faces that it was forced. Neither of us could enjoy what was happening because we didn't like each other that way and I wish I could just tell everyone what really happened. Sure our friends know, but the rest of the school does not.

I'm not looking forward to the day that we go back to school because I know that people are going to be staring and talking about what I had done. They would probably either be judging of pitying Magnus when they see that we are still together, they would think I was forcing him or that Magnus was too gone on me to let me go and thought I could change. I just wanted to tell them to all mind their own business and that it really wasn't what it looked like.

I know I couldn't though because that wouldn't be fair on Jem or Will as they were as much a part of it as I. I couldn't tell anyone what happened without exposing the whole story about Camille, and it wouldn't be right for me to tell without getting permission from the others.

"We all suffered because of her, but we can't let her get to us or that means that she has won and I refuse to let her get to me like she did. I will never do what I did again, just because of some sick woman." I take a grip on both of their arms. "You can't let her get to you, don't let her control your life anymore." Jem opens his eyes at my words.

"I know, it's just going to be hard at first but knowing that I can finally just be with Will peacefully... that's going to help me more than you can imagine." Will kiss the top of Jem's head again and a small part of me flares with jealousy at the small gesture.

I missed small intimacy like that. Magnus was still pulling away from me so I didn't really get it anymore. I don't know what to do to help the situation with Magnus, he won't talk to me about it and it's hurting me. I know I deserve it after what I did, but it doesn't make it hurt any less.

I managed to tell Isabelle about it but she thought I was just being paranoid. I tried to explain to her that I wasn't but she didn't believe me. I know it was happening though, because the last time I even had the smallest of colds, Magnus arrived in the morning as earliest as he could to spend the day with me, as much time as he could before he was being demanded home by his mother.

But since arriving home from the hospital, I've only seen him twice, and those times it was due to the fact that he was meeting Isabelle and Jace here so they could go somewhere with each other.

I just have no idea what to do about it. Even when I ask to see him, he always says he is too busy to come over just now.

"Alec?" I blink my eyes to see that Jem and Will have moved until their faces are right in front of mine, both of them look worried about something.

It was then that I noticed that I had started crying. "He doesn't want me anymore." I suddenly sob, not even noticing I was talking until the words were out of my mouth and by that point, it was too late for me to stop it. It was also too late for me to stop the sudden urge to break down. "Magnus doesn't want me anym...mo...more." Will suddenly pull me forward into a fierce hug.

"What are you talking about? Magnus loves you, anyone can see that." Will strokes a hand through my hair, trying to sooth the sobs but not having much luck.

I shake my head against his shoulder. "He d-doesn't and it- it's all my fau-fault." I sob loudly and ugly. "He never c-comes to se-see me and do-doesn't want to talk t-to me! I run-ruined it!" I'm taking shuddering breaths now and all I want to do is sleep, the overwhelming fear of losing Magnus and being alone is starting to take over me again and I'm scared of what might happen if I go into that headspace again.

"Oh, Alec." Will rock's me slightly. "Don't worry, we'll fix this- We'll help you get better." He promises. "I'll be here for you whenever you need me." He pushes me backwards until I'm resting against the pillows, eyes hanging heavy from tiredness. "But for now, you need to sleep. We'll fix this when you wake up." He promises, glancing over at the door after he speaks.

I'm guessing that's where Jem is, considering he is no longer sitting next to us on the bed.

"Okay." I manage to say. "When I wake up." I nod before allowing my eyes to close.

It's not the best sleep I will have, but it will pass the time.

I'll need rest anyway if I'm going to fight for Magnus.

And I'll always fight for him.


	33. Chapter Thirty-Three

 

**Chapter Thirty-Three:**

**Magnus-**

A deep sense of guilt takes over me as I watch the people around me laugh. They were all enjoying themselves, cuddling up with their respective boyfriend or girlfriend.

Whilst I was pulling away from my own, probably when he needed me the most.

The problem was, I knew I was doing it but for some reason, I couldn't face the giant issue with us right now. I know that none of it was true and Alec had to think of the wellbeing of his family so they didn't get hurt, he never wanted to cheat on me or say any of those horrible things he said. I just couldn't get the thought of them out of my head, I couldn't help but believe that all it was true, even though he told me they weren't.

He even told me that he loved me and I responded with "I hate you." even though in that moment, after worrying myself sick, literally, the last thing I wanted to say was I hate you. I wanted to hold him in my arms and tell him over and over again that I loved him and that I would never hate him or want him gone from the world. The last thing I would want is for Alexander Lightwood to die, not when he has so much to live for and deserves everything he possibly can, and that includes happiness.

Right now I am the one that's actually taking that happiness away from him. I wanted to give it to him, I wanted to spend every moment of my waking hours by his side, but there is part of me that just won't allow it. It's the more vulnerable side of me that is too afraid to let him get close because I don't want to feel hurt like I did last week.

It was incredibly selfish, but I couldn't find the push I needed to get me to get over myself. I thought I could do it on my own, but every time I tried, I ended up chickening out last minute.

"Mag's? You're super quiet tonight." Someone elbowed my ribs. I turn to see that it was Maia, she was looking a little worried about me.

"Me? I'm fine." I say to her, prompting her to raise an eyebrow.

"It doesn't sound like you are, and the fact that you said that even when I didn't ask, shows me that there is something on your mind. What is it?" She asks, turning her body to look more at me, causing Lydia to peak an interest and lean in closer to us to find out what was going on.

She doesn't get to however because before I can get the chance to say anything, there is heavy pounding on the front door of Maia's house.

"Uh, anyone expecting someone?" Maia asks before getting up off of the sofa she, Lydia and I were sprawled on. No one answers her so she just shrugs and walks out of the room, quickly going to answer the door as the person there had already started their second round of heavy knocking.

The knocking is cut off sharply when Maia answers the door, leaving the place in silence as we all try to listen in to what the person is saying.

We, however, were not expecting said person to come barging into the living room, hair wet from the rain that must've started outside.

It was Jem.

He turns to look straight at me. "You are selfish Magnus Bane." He snaps at me, taking me off guard. Completely not expecting him to just barging into the room like that, and also not expecting him to just start shouting at me for no reason.

"Excuse me!" Maia comes into the room behind me. "You can't just come barging into my house and start yelling at my guests, especially after all you have done to him." Maia was quite scary when she was angry and I'm glad I wasn't the one of the receiving end of her anger.

Jem however, didn't seem to care that Maia was shouting at him. His eyes were glaring right at me as if he were trying to burn a hole through my head. "I can't believe you are being like this, not when you know exactly what he is going through." Jem hisses at me like I was supposed to know what he was talking about.

"What-"

"Don't act like you don't know who I am talking about! Alec is at home right now, he literally passed out from exhaustion and stress because he's so fucking worried over why you haven't bothered to go see him. After everything he has been through this week, you're just going to push him away!" Jem's hands are flailing with his anger at me.

I feel my body go slightly cold at his words. Was what he was saying true? Have I really caused Alec that much pain?

"Wait, what is he talking about Magnus? why haven't you spoken to Alec?" Jace gently pushes Simon off him so he could stand up. "Have you really been ignoring him after what just happened." I feel shame take over the coldness in my body. The way my eyes move to look at the carpet answers Jace's question.

"What the fuck Magnus!" Isabelle shouts, jumping off Clary's lap. "How could you do that to him! You know that he needs you now, you are literally the only one he wants to talk too! Why do you think we've been here so much because no matter how much we try, we can't get him to talk or he doesn't want to see us." Isabelle crosses her arms over her chest, coming over to stand next to Jem and Jace. The way they are all standing makes me feel like a child who got caught being bad.

"Guys, don't shout at him. This has been hard on all of us." Catarina tries to calm the situation down, but it seems like the three people standing before me, don't seem to want to be calm right now.

"Alec almost died! He was literally so afraid to lose the people he cared about the most that he tried to take his own life rather than be alone- and one of those people that he loves so much can hardly give him the time of day." Jace spits out, I had never seen him look so angry.

"Magnus, can't you see that Alec needs you. He almost died... only days ago. He needs-" Isabelle starts but her words die out as she speaks.

"Izzy?" Jace turns to look at her, worried about her sudden stop. "What is it?"

Isabelle looks at the room, her eyes filling with tears. "He needs all of us, Jace." Isabelle whimpers. "He needs us there with him at this time, yet here we all are, appending time with each other whilst he-" Something suddenly takes over me, making me stand up and blindly reach for my coat.

"I need to go see him- oh god I'm so sorry." I feel someone press my coat into my hand as I wasn't having much luck on my own. I was thankful to whoever it was but I just didn't have the mind to check who it was or thank them, the only thing on my mind was getting to my Alexander.

"You better go see him, Will is there because we were too afraid of leaving him alone. Never saw someone break down like that before and Will be too afraid of getting punched by you or seeing Jace." Jem turns to leave the house when he is suddenly grabbed by Jace.

"Why would he be afraid to see me? I have hardly any reason to be angry at him." Jace asked, even though I think we're all thinking the same thing as to why Will would be worried about seeing Jace.

"Because he knows who you are and he is trying to give you the space you need. But it is not the time for that, we need to go." Jem yanks his arm free from Jace's grip then turns to me. "You coming?" He asks before striding back out of the house. I follow after him, with Isabelle linking onto my arm so she could walk with me.

I'm not even sure if Jace is even following after us, but I can't find I in me to care right now. Having Jem literally come and shout at me seems to have woken me up to how shitty I've been treating Alec.

God, he has always been there for me when I needed him, even before we were dating and I had that meltdown about Will. He was even supposed to be going on a date and he was willing to cancel just for me.

"I screwed up so bad," I mumble to Isabelle.

"I don't disagree with you there, but I know why you did it. I just wished you could've seen this outcome before." She rests her head on my shoulder as we all hurry down the streets.

"Do you think he'll forgive me?" I ask her, as she has known her brother longer than I so she will know better.

Isabelle scoffs. "Of course he will, are you mad?" Isabelle seems to think this was a stupid question but at this moment, I honestly think that Alec is going to have a hard time forgiving me.

"I mean it, Izzy. After everything that has happened, I can't see him wanting to see me." I say and it's in that moment that Jem turns around, probably hearing what I had just said.

"Magnus, don't be stupid. Of course, he want's to see you, that's why I came marching down to the one place that I'm most likely to get punched. None of this was my fault or Alec's, just remember that Camille has targeted you too." Jem still looks a little angry at me but his voice has calmed down now, I think he understands what my problem was. "And I for one know what it's like to have your relationship messed around with because Camille is bored."

Isabelle perks up at that small comment. "What do you mean? Who are you in a relationship with?" She asks, even though for me, it's pretty obvious over who he is talking about.

"Will and I have wanted to date, for so long we've wanted to be together normally... but Camille thought it would be funny to tease us. Whenever we'd do something for her she'd leave us alone for a while until we were almost back together then she would tear us apart again." Jem smiles sadly. "He was with me right up until Alec arrived, that night that the photo of us kissing went viral." I flinch slightly at the reminder.

"Why the fuck has no one called the cops about her yet?" Isabelle fumes.

"I guess we're all just worried about what she has over us all, I for one don't want my secrets being spilled." Jem flushes in annoyance but his eyes show something else. "I don't know who she has told about them, perhaps someone will spill once Camille get's caught." This makes Jem look worried.

"I guess Jace is safe then, everyone knows that he likes Simon now, and if he really came down to it I think he'd speak to his parents first before word got out about that." Isabelle turns to look behind us, I follow her gaze to see that Jace did, in fact, follow us and so did Simon. Jace was walking, looking slightly like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, whilst Simon held onto one of his hands with both of his and whispered something encouraging into his ear.

Jem sighs. "I hope so, Will has been trying so hard to keep this a secret for him." I smile at that. I know that I have had my problems with Will but I am beginning to understand that it was not his fault. And to see him being so respectful to Jace, even when it involves knowing a secret like this. Well, I am beginning to see Will in a new light and I'm even considering forgiving him fully.

"He'll come around, Jace just takes some time to do that." Isabelle rests a hand on Jem's shoulder as if Jem was the one that needed comforting over this. Well, I guess he is the one who is in love with Will and would have to see Will when he is holding this secret, perhaps he does need comforting.

"I hope so," Jem repeats.

No one says anything after that as we were too close to the Lightwood house and my mind had become too preoccupied with the thought of Alec, so I didn't have the time to worry about other people's problems now that I was about to face my own.

Once we arrived at the house Isabelle turns to look at me. "Why don't you go see him first? We could make something for him to eat whilst you spend time together." Isabelle suggests, knowing that Alec and I would probably want some time together.

I nod my head once before turning towards the stairs, just as Will makes his way down. He stops suddenly when he sees the rest of us standing there.

"Oh! I didn't know you were back... I was just getting Alec something to drink." Will look's dead ahead at Isabelle and Jem, not allowing his eyes to move towards me or Jace, who had shrunk back even more against Simon.

"I'll get it for him," I say before turning to head towards the kitchen.

I take the time to pour Alec some Apple Juice, knowing that it was his favorite thing to drink when he wasn't feeling at his best. Maryse told me that he had always been like this, ever since he was a child.

Everyone was still standing in the hallway when I walked back out of the kitchen. I notice Isabelle smile slightly when she takes in the glass of juice, she knew as well as I did that Alec would prefer this over anything else.

I smile back at her before making my way upstairs, choosing not to linger with the rest because I know that Alec needed me right now.

And I knew that I had a lot to make up for.  


	34. Chapter Thirty-Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mr--world--wide 
> 
> Please come and chat with me on tumblr, I love hearing criticism about my work because it makes me a better writer, and I would love to chat with some of you guys :D

****

**Chapter Thirty-Four:**

**Alec-**

When I next woke up to find that Will was still sitting beside me on the bed, engrossed in something on his phone. There were worry lines on his forehead as he concentrated on whatever he was looking at.

"If you continue to stress so much you'll get premature wrinkles," I comment before pushing myself up to sit against the headboard.

Will jumps slightly when he hears my voice. He obviously wasn't expecting me to be awake. He rights himself after a moment then smiles at me. "You sound like Magnus when you say that." He jokes and if I'm being honest, I did hear it from Magnus. He said it to me a lot when we were studying for our exams.

"Yeah, that's true," I say with a sad smile, then I realize that I don't want to break down like I did before I passed out. That was embarrassing and I hate that Will and Jem saw that part of me, that was something even Magus barely got to see. I didn't like looking weak in front of people, being strong is one of the only defenses I had back in New York. If I allowed myself to look weak then it would give people the chance to walk all over me. I wasn't having that.

"Where's Jem?" I ask, deciding to move the subject away from Magnus.

It was selfish of me to break down like that anyway. Magnus didn't deserve this and if he wanted some time and space, I should've given it to him because he wasn't the only one affected by this whole thing. Camille had managed to hurt him again, through me, and that must've been horrible for him. I shouldn't be breaking down and being selfish because Magnus isn't at my beck and call 24/7. He deserved to heal too, and if that doesn't involve me, then I just have to live with that fact and give him the space he needs.

"He said he had somewhere to be, then left without telling me where he went." Will looks confused for a second then brushes it off. "He does it a lot, he can be a very private guy sometimes." There is now a fond look on his face that seems a little too private and I feel the urge to look away and give him this moment, but he shakes it off and looks back at me. "It's one of the reasons I love him."

I smile back at him, unsure what to say back to him.

Will seems to get that because he is changing the subject. "Do you need anything? Hungry? Thirsty...?" Will push himself off the bed, ready to jump at my command.

"Uhh, I could use a drink," I say and before I have the chance to tell him what I want, he is mock saluting me and hurrying out of the room, leaving me with my mouth half open and my words dying on my lips.

Now that Will is out of the room, perhaps I should change into a cleaner shirt, considering I have slept in this one for a day or two. Even a different shirt would make a whole difference to me now. Perhaps breaking down and passing out right after crying wasn't a good move on my part.

I yank off my shirt, and just as I was about to pull on a new one, I hear the sound of the door opening behind me.

"Sorry Will I-" My words are stopped short when I see that Magnus is the one that came into the room. "Hey? What are you doing here?" I ask before pulling on the shirt that was in my hand.

Magnus doesn't say anything for a moment, just holds out a glass for me. He must've run into Will when he was here, and much to my joy I see that he remembered that was my favorite.

"I think we need to talk, Alexander." Magnus looks slightly sad.

Fear shoots through me at his words. Those words have never been good at any point in time, they always lead to something bad. Most of the time when it comes to a relationship it means that a break-up is on the cards.

Magnus wanted to break up with me. It makes sense why he would, I wouldn't blame him if he did, considering everything that had happened. He deserves someone who isn't so weak.

I seemed to have lost the ability to speak, all I can do is stare down at the glass in Magnus' hand. He is still holding it out for me, waiting for me to take it but it seems as if my whole body were frozen because of his words.

"Alexander?" Magnus prompts then reaches out to touch my cheek, startling me back to the present and making me jerk back. If he was going to break up with me then I wasn't going to allow him t bother himself with trying to comfort me when I was the one in the wrong. I could do that for him, make this an easy breakup.

"Yeah, uh I get it," I say then I reach out to take the glass from him, making sure that my hand didn't make contact with his as I did so. "You don't have to bother... I know and I understand." I say, I then make my way back to the bed, suddenly feeling very sick and dizzy.

Magnus is silent and even though I wasn't looking at him, I knew he was staring at me, even though I am not sure why he was.

"Well, Alexander, I don't understand. Why don't you tell me what it is that you know?" He comes over to sit next to me, taking my free hand in his, his grip tight enough to let me know not to move mine out of the way.

I sigh, looking down at our joined hands. Was this going to be the last time we hold hands? I push the thought from my mind because it's just not something I want to think about.

"You know what I mean Magnus, and it would just be easier if you didn't say it because you don't have too and I don't ever have to hear those words from you... it would hurt more if you actually told me." Magnus is silent after that, perhaps he was going to listen to me and not actually say that he wanted to break up with me.

I am proven wrong however when Magnus's free hand comes up to hold just under my chin. He moves his hand up, forcing me to meet his eyes. They are wide and worried with something.

"Alexander you need to tell me what is wrong, I hate seeing you like this and I'm sorry that I am the one that caused it." Magnus strokes his finger across my cheek. "Just talk to me please." I'm surprised to see tears build in Magnus' eyes.

"I- I don't understand?" Magnus isn't making any sense, why would he act this was when he is about to break up with me? "Didn't you come here to leave me?" I hated the way my voice sounded so quiet and timid.

Suddenly Magnus is letting go of my hand in order to place it on my other cheek, allowing him to better turn my face towards him. I could see his eyes were wide and slightly panicked. "No. Alexander that is the last thing I want to do, and it is the complete opposite thing I came here to do." He leans forward and presses a quick kiss to my forehead. "I came here to say how sorry I was for shutting you out when you need me, and frankly when I need you."

I'm stunned.

From my basic knowledge of relationships, the words "we need to talk" never led to anything good. Why did Magnus decide to word it like that if he only wanted to apologize?

"Look, I'm sorry that I've left you like this but I just needed some time to come to terms with everything that is going on. I thought it would be better for me if I dealt with it on my own, but seeing you like this kills me, and sitting here with you has made me happier than I've been for days... no matter the circumstances." He smiles at me. "Can you forgive me so we can get through this together? I don't want to let Camille ruin this when this is one of the best things to ever happen to me."

His little confession makes butterflies flutter around in my stomach as if they were desperate to be free. How could one boy have such an effect on me?

I shyly smile back at him, gently moving his arms away as I do so. He looks confused by the action for a moment but smiles brighter when I make my actions of resting my head against his shoulder, known.

"You don't have to be sorry," I mumble into the fabric of his dark green silk shirt. I run my finger across the fabric as I have found in the past that whenever I'm not feeling too well, the soothing fabric of Magnus' shirts always made me feel a little lighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't give you the time you need, I'm just being selfish."

Magnus strokes a hand soothingly through my hair, seemingly not caring that it's probably a mess right now. "Don't think that way my darling. It's not selfish to wish for the company of someone you care about, especially after something you just went through." Magnus twirls a strand of my hair around his finger as he speaks.

I shake my head slightly before hiding my face in his neck.

Magnus chuckles at my childish move. "Let's agree to disagree shall we?" Magnus asks. "For now, let's just focus on healing from this, moving on with our relationship and leaving that cow behind. She won't take us from each other." Magnus presses his face against my hair. "I refuse to let her do it. I love you too much to let her." The words are spoken softly against my ear.

I jerk back far enough to get a better look at his face. "What?" I say breathlessly. I knew that he loved me and had already admitted it, but I have just not heard him actually say it to me.

Magnus grins, his hands coming to cup my face again. "I love you, Alexander." He places the softest of kisses to my lips. "I know it's taken me some time to actually say it properly to you, but I do love you." I feel tears in my eyes.

It was the second time today that I have cried, but this time it is for a much different reason than the last time. This time it was for completely happy reasons.

"I- I love you too," I whisper before my hands grab onto his shoulders and I am pulling him into a much deeper and harder kiss. Magnus smiles into it at first before he is kissing me back with just the same amount of enthusiasm that I was giving him.

There was something about this kiss that made it into my top ten kisses with Magnus, this one came in second. The first best kiss with Magnus was literally our firs kiss. I was glad that I had waited for it to be him because I honestly don't think I could imagine having it with anyone else.

I wanted to give my everything to this man.

Magnus moved his hand from my cheek to my neck, the other one being used to push us both up further onto the bed, I knew Magnus well enough to know that this move wasn't supposed to be for sex, this was him just trying to make us both as comfortable as possible.

I pull him on top of me so I could get better access to his mouth. I also did it because I wanted him as close to me as possible, I would be surprised if I actually managed to bring myself to let him go home tonight.

In fact, I didn't want him to go.

I pull back slightly from Magnus, only far enough for our lips to brush together with every breath. "Please stay," I whisper, my voice broken from the lack of breath. "Don't leave me tonight." I raise my eyes to meet his.

He raises an eyebrow. "Your Mom-"

"She'll understand just- please don't leave, I need you." The tone of my voice told him that my needing him wasn't in a sex way, I just needed his company.

Magnus' eyes soften. "Of course, my love." Magnus kisses my cheek. "But perhaps I should stop sitting on your lap when we tell her... I don't think it would make the best impression." Magnus winks then clambers off me, falling down beside me on the bed before pulling me against his chest.

"You didn't have too," I mumble. " She won't be in for a couple of hours." Magnus makes a small noise at that.

"Well then, that gives us time to have a bath because, no offense darling, you don't smell very fresh." Magnus pokes a particularly ticklish spot on my ribs.

I jerk in his arms before gently shoving him. "Fine, I'll take a bath... but no funny business." I warm him before getting up from the bed and heading towards the bathroom.

Magnus whines. "At least let me see you get naked... you know how much I enjoy that." I turn around to see him smirking, allowing his eyes to wander downwards towards-

"Magnus!" I gasp before ducking into the bathroom, embarrassed by his actions.

Magnus laughs from the room. "Don't be shy, my love. It's nothing I haven't seen before." He peeks his head into the room just as I'm removing the clean shirt I had just put on, I'll fold it and leave it for later. "If it means that much to you, I'll leave you be and I'll busy myself with changing the sheets for fresh ones." Magnus lets his eyes linger for a second before turning to move away.

"I didn't say you couldn't join me... but thinking about it, you should definitely change the sheets before joining me," I call to him.

"Don't you worry darling, there was no way I wasn't going to join you." Magnus turns and winks at me then leaves the room with a soft. "Remember I love you." floating behind him.

I laugh.

Like hell was I going to forget that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mr--world--wide 
> 
> Please come and chat with me on tumblr, I love hearing criticism about my work because it makes me a better writer, and I would love to chat with some of you guys :D


	35. Chapter Thirty-Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I tried a sex scene... it's so bad and I am sorry about that, I think sex scenes are the hardest for me to do but I tried my best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mr--world--wide 
> 
> Please come and chat with me on Tumblr, I love hearing criticism about my work because it makes me a better writer, and I would love to chat with some of you guys :D

 

**Chapter Thirty-Five**

**Alec:**

"Do you need me to hold any of that for you?" Magnus hovers beside me as we take our bags out from the trunk of the car. His hands were resting on my arm and shoulder, acting as if I was about to fall over at any second.

"Magnus, baby you know I am okay now yeah?" I ask him as I yank the strap of my bag up onto my shoulder.

Magnus had been treating me like a king ever since we made up with each other a couple of days ago. I don't remember the last time he went back home, I was never awake to see him go as he always decided to go when I wasn't awake. I found that out from Isabelle who found it really adorable and offered me information if I told her how it was going with Magnus now. She was very interested in making sure I was feeling better.

Before answering, Magnus quickly snags the last of my bags out of the trunk before I could reach for it. "I know that darling, I was just being helpful because I love you." Magnus kisses my cheek then heads inside the cabin, which would serve as our home for a couple of days.

Despite everything that had happened in the past two weeks, Magnus and I decided that we would still go ahead with our plans of spending some time together in the cabin before everyone else arrives. We had even decided to mend fences with Jem and Will by inviting them. We thought it would be best to smooth things over before Camille's trial began.

Which won't be that far away.

We found out just yesterday that they had finally arrested Camille and that she was being kept in a cell in the local police station until they decided on a date for a trial. According to our lawyers, there is a good chance that it might be late next week.

So I was hoping that this trip would push that from my mind for a little while and I can just focus on trying to have some fun and enjoying my time with my boyfriend and my family and my friends.

Even though two people might make things a little awkward.

Will and Jace.

For some reason, neither of them have spoken to each other even though they both know the truth. I understand why Will might not want to bring up the subject because he is trying to respect Jace as he knows fine well what Jace is going through right now with the whole Camille thing.

But I thought that with this all going on it might make them closer and maybe Will could talk Jace into speaking to his real family. I know it will be a hard task for anyone to do but Will would have a better chance at trying to convince him, only if they just sat down and actually spoke to one another.

"I'm so sure that's true," I say through a grin as I slam the trunk shut so I could follow him into the house.

I catch up with him just in time to see the smirk grow on his face. "You're right, but you can't blame me for wanting to woo my man by carrying his bags," Magnus replies as he stops to fish his keys out of his pocket. "My mama raised me right." He then precedes to say before pushing the door open. "After you my love." He extends an arm into the house.

I shake my head as I cross the threshold. He can be so childish sometimes, but I've come to love it... well not so much if it comes to halfway through a silly argument, then it can be extremely annoying.

I turn just in time to see Magnus closing the door. "To the bedroom?" I ask before really thinking it through.

"My my Alexander, so eager to bed me, I thought you would at least try to wine and dine me first." Magnus drops the bags to the floor with a small thump. He takes a step closer to me and peels the bag from my shoulder, innocently taking my jacket with it.

I knew that he was just trying to tease me because of my unfortunate wording, but part of me doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of it.

Before he could do anything else, I take a step forward, bringing us flush together. He lets out a small breath then lifts his head to look me in the eye. I wrap my arms around his waist so we could be as close as possibly could.

"We have time for that, right now I just want you." I lean down to press my lips to his ear. "It's been so long since I've seen you so prettily flushed under me." I purr before starting to back us up against the wall.

Only, just as I am about to press him up against the wall, Magnus uses his body to flip us both around until I am the one being slammed against the wall.

"Oh my love, you don't think that I'm going to bottom?... not when you, my beautiful angel would make such a pretty little bottom, especially with those little noises you make." Magnus begins to bite down my neck, he then begins to slide his hands up under my shirt.

I whimper at his actions as he knows exactly where to touch me to make me fall apart under him.

"Let's move this to the bedroom darling, as much as I want to take you right here against the wall, I think it would be more romantic for your first time to be on a bed." Magnus licks a stripe up my neck until he reaches my ear, he nibbles it gently as he pulls us away from the wall.

As we moved away, I found it easier to move my arms up to his shirt, tangling it in both of my fists so I could pull it up and over his head. "fuck-" I suddenly growl before I'm unable to help myself.

Magnus gasps as I am suddenly pulling him up by the ass until his legs are wrapping around my waist, pressing both of us flush together in the best way possible.

"Fuck- Alexander, baby yes." Magnus already sounds breathless.

It's in that moment that I know that there is no way we're making it all the way upstairs to his bedroom. I decided then and there that I was going to take him to the closest bedroom, without caring that someone is supposed to sleep there soon enough.

Magnus continues his attack on my neck as I carry him into the bedroom.

Once there I carefully place him on the bed, as if he was made out of the finest china that had to be protected no matter what. I stand back slightly so I could pull my shirt off, then I just stand there, looking at the beautiful man laid so deliciously out in front of me.

"You're exquisite." Magnus suddenly purrs then leans up to pull me onto the bed by my hips. "You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you." Magnus presses a kiss to my navel as his nimble fingers undo my belt.

Then to my pleasure, I watch as he leans forward to use his sinful mouth to undo the zip of my jeans, making sure he kept eye contact with me the entire time.

"Oh- Mags..." Moans slip from my mouth and my hands slide into his hair.

"Such pretty noises, all for me." Magnus laughs then once again by using my hips, he has me shoved into the mattress. "You look so fucking-" Magnus doesn't finish, he just makes a low sound in his throat before almost tearing my shoes and jeans and underwear off until I am naked under him.

He whines at the sight.

"Magnus- please." I reach out to palm him through his jeans, finding that he was already fully hard in his tight jeans.

Fuck, I did that to him.

"of course baby, I'll take care of you don't worry." Magnus leans down to kiss me whilst he takes off the rest of his clothes. Once they were gone, he crawls up my body until we are at the same height, leaving me able to press my dick against his thigh and his against my stomach.

"Please- fuck me please..." I wrap my arms around Magnus as he slowly moves his hips until both of our lengths are pressing together.

"You are positively sinful Alexander." Magnus bites at my neck as he moves his hips slowly against mine, teasing me.

I wasn't expecting the pleasure to be so intense in this moment, so without thinking, I end up digging my nails into his back, trying to cling onto him, leaving scratches on his back, but also making him arch in pleasure. "Shit- you can keep doing that." Magnus moans against my neck.

"Only if you hurry the fuck up and fuck me," I growl out before using his shoulders to push him down to where I need him the most.

Magnus only laughs at me. "Trust me, baby, I've got you-" Magnus winks then is suddenly taken the whole of my length into his mouth.

From then on out, all I felt is immense pleasure by Magnus's hand.

I could tell that this was all about me, trying to give me the best first time I could ask for.

He didn't pressure me into doing anything for him, even though I did and I wanted to so badly.

I knew that one of the things he wanted to do was pin me down against the mattress and fuck me until I couldn't walk straight, so that's what we did.

It felt so good, having him pin me down, whispering filthy things to me in between sucking dark bruises into my neck, in the morning I was probably going to be pretty embarrassed by them and half of the things I said and did tonight.

But for right now I couldn't give a fuck.

Not as I felt the amazing stretch of Magnus inside of me.

Magnus starts to move faster, meaning that he was getting as close as I was getting.

To help him along, I trail my nails down his back again, it felt great to him and it was the only place I could put my hands, the only thing keeping me sane in this amount of pleasure.

"Magnus- I need to-" Magnus shuts me up with a kiss before he is snaking his hand in between our bodies to take a tight hold of my dick, it makes me cry out as his hand matches the brutal pace of his fucking.

It barely takes a minute for me to me to cum, up an all over both of our chests.

The effects of my orgasm have Magnus pulling out quickly, ripping the condom off so he could finish himself off, adding to the mess on my chest.

"Fuck- Alexander you were... I love you so fucking much." Magnus leans down to press a fierce but tired kiss to my lips.

I kiss him back with as much energy as I could muster, which wasn't much as the whole thing took more out of me than I was expecting.

"Love you Mags," I mumble against his lips when he pulls back. "So good-" I yawn, making Magnus giggle.

"I guess there's no time for round two before you pass out?" Magnus jokes then I watch him scramble off the bed to grab a pair of boxers, and I'm not even sure if they're his.

"Later, snuggle with me." I complain, leaning over to reach for him. "tired."

Magnus leans over to kiss my forehead. "stay with me for a moment baby, I need to clean you up first." Magnus trails a finger down the mess on my stomach before wiping it on the boxers.

"Kay-" I say around another yawn.

Magnus leaves me then, and I barely last a minute before I'm in a half asleep state.

I only just feel Magnus wiping me with a damp cloth before joining me on the bed and pulling my back against his front.

"Rest now my love." Magnus presses a kiss to my hair before softly stroking a hand through it.

That is the last thing I remember before passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mr--world--wide 
> 
> Please come and chat with me on Tumblr, I love hearing criticism about my work because it makes me a better writer, and I would love to chat with some of you guys :D


	36. Chapter Thirty-Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a really short filler chapter before the good stuff starts

 

**Chapter Thirty-Six:**

**Alec-**

Spending the past couple days with just Magnus around was probably the best thing for us right now. It got us away from all the drama that had happened to us and will for sure continue to happen until Camille is punished for all that she has done to us.

Magnus also made sure he spent as much time making sure I knew how much he loved me. He had been doing that ever since we made up though so that wasn't very new. He was adamant that he would never allow me to get low enough that I consider suicide, ever again.

But now our privacy is coming to an end and we would have to spend the next couple of days with our friends and my siblings.

They would be here any moment so Magnus and I were doing whatever we could to tidy up behind ourselves. The last thing we needed to alert them too is that we basically slept together in every room of the house.

Isabelle would have a field day if she found out and I think Jace would just implode. Especially if he finds out that we...devirginized me on the bed that he and Simon would be sharing.

Just as I was fixing the tablecloth that rested on the dining table, up until this morning that is...

Magnus came into the room, wearing nothing but a pair of his tightest jeans. The sight of him shirtless made me want to go through the process that led to me to fixing the dining table.

The thing that stood out the most about him though, was the scratches that littered his chest and back. He didn't seem to care that they were there but I don't think I could handle the teasing that I would get about it.

"Can you please put a shirt on?" I ask him. I take a quick glance around the room, looking for a shirt that would inevitably be lying around somewhere.

God knows what it's going to be like if Magnus and I ever move in together. If a couple of days together could lead to the mess we left here, then I don't even want to think about spending every day in the same space.

Magnus watches as I lean down to grab the silky material from the floor. "Why, Alexander, I thought you were rather fond of my chest." He teases as I drape the material of his shirt over his head.

He allows me to slip the thing onto him before pulling me into his arms.

"You know I love it, I love everything about you." I lean down to kiss him softly before pulling back. "And I will make sure that I will have you topless under me again by the end of the night, but just not where everyone can see what is mine." I trail kisses from his lips down to his neck and across his collarbone to where one of the deeper scratches lays.

Magnus grins and moans slightly. "I believe I have truly released the beast inside of you Alexander, perhaps I should ask someone to give you a manicure... to give you a better grip." Magnus leans up to press a kiss behind my ear.

I laugh slightly at his suggestion, not completely against the idea. Magnus seemed to enjoy the slight pain and I enjoyed seeing my mark on him, call me possessive.

"You would love that wouldn't you?" I purr before biting down on his neck.

I know that there was no way to hid the marks on either Mine or Magnus' neck, that was going to be a topic of discussion, no matter what I did to try and hide it.

Magnus smirks then leans up to kiss my cheek. "I will love anything about you, Alexander." Magnus says in such a loving voice that I couldn't help but to believe him.

"Well then, it's a good thing I'll love you too." I answer, matching the smirk that was on his face. "And I will no matter what." Magnus suddenly crushes his face against my chest.

"I can't believe I found someone like you." Magnus mumbles into the material of my shirt. "It will forever baffle me." He nuzzles his face against the soft material.

I chuckle. "Believe me, I understand what you mean." I laugh.

Before either of us could say anything else, a loud and obnoxious voice rings throughout the house.

"Alec! my eternal love, I have arrived!"

Jace.

Magnus pulls back and turns around just as Jace walks into the room, carrying several bags that must be his and Simons. He drops them on the floor however when he sees Magnus and I.

"Alec!" He cries before walking over and pushing Magnus out of the way, pulling me into a tight hug. "I missed you bro." Jace admits when I hug him back.

Magnus scoffs at Jace's behaviour but I was used to it so I just laughed. "You act like I've been gone for months, it's only been a couple of days and I'm sure you've had Simon to keep you company." I reply before letting him go.

I notice that Simon had just walked in with Clary at that moment. "Simon is not you though." Jace pouts jokingly.

Simon gasps, hand flying to his chest in hurt. "You take that back right now Jace Lightwood." Simon warns, Clary just rolls her eyes before letting her bags fall next to Simon and Jace's. "If you don't then this will be one lonely weekend when you sleep on the couch." This triggers a response form Jace.

He seemingly forgets I was even there as he walks over to Simon, looking as if he was going to pull Simon into a hug, but the other boy just crosses his arms in defiance. "Nope, don't think that's going to work mister-"

"You know I was just kidding baby, Alec is just my brother, you are currently my everything." Jace runs a finger over Simon's cheek and that seems to be enough for him to forgive Jace enough to move into his arms.

"I'll believe you for now, and I guess you can sleep in the bed tonight." Simon relents and I see Jace smirk knowingly. It seems like Simon can cave with sweet words, but I know that if Jace had decided to try and sweet talk him in an actual bad situation, Simon would be fierce to fight with.

"I thought we were too sweet." Magnus walks over and wraps an arm around my waist.

"Oh, you so are but we all love it." From behind Simon and Jace comes Isabelle.

As if she were expecting it, her eyes fall right onto my neck.

"I knew it!" She cried out before almost tripping over all the bags to get over to me.

She grabs my chin and moves it to the side so she could see the marks decorating my neck.

"Isabelle please-" I complain but she shushes me.

"Nope. My big brother is a man now- this is a cause for celebration." There's a glint in her eyes that tells me that this celebration will most likely involve some sort of alcohol.

"Anything that happens with you is a reason to celebrate Jace." Magnus murmurs, but I can see an equally excited smile on his face.

Jace ignores Magnus' comment as he moves out of the way for Clary and Lydia to come into the room.

"What's the topic of discussion?" Lydia asks as she flops herself onto the sofa, Clary choses to sprawl out across Isabelle's lap.

Isabelle begins to play with Clary's hair as the girl rests across her. "We're talking about Alec's no longer a virgin party that's going to be happening." Isabelle says casually.

Lydia perks up at that. Hey eyes find Magnus and I, they hold a glint that I usually only see with Isabelle. "Omg! This is amazing! only two more left to shack up before we're all experienced adults." Lydia seemed excited about this, which was a weird thing to be excited about.

"Make that one more."

Two voices speak at the same time.

My head snaps between the two voices. They belonged to Simon and Clary, who were both staring at each other in shock.

"Well... this just got interesting." Magnus pulls me down to sit in the armchair, pulling me into his lap.

"You had sex and didn't tell me?" Clary sounded hurt that Simon kept this from her, but Simon just shook his head in shock.

"You are dating someone and didn't tell me? How long has this been going on? surely it must've been for a long time... long enough for you to have sex." Simon sounded even more hurt than Clary did.

Clary just ducked her head in shame, it looked as if she wanted to tell us but something was holding her back.

It turns out that the thing holding her back from telling everyone, turned out to be someone in this room.

Someone I thought I knew very well, right up until now.

"To be fair Simon, we didn't really tell anyone." Isabelle spoke up, not really paying attention.

I blink in surprise, my mouth falling open.

Isabelle and Clary were dating, since when? How did this even happen without anyone knowing.

"Hold up... you spent so much time trying to get Alec and I to be more open, yet you have been dating Clary for who knows how long and we're only just finding out about this now?" Jace didn't seem to be able to handle this very well. "What the hell Izzy? Is that not a little hypocritical of you?" I was surprised to hear how hurt Jace sounded.

Isabelle looks up to meet his eyes. "I didn't tell you because I didn't need to Jace. Clary and I wanted the time to have our own relationship, have enough privacy to see how it will go as we are both new to dating other girls. We needed the time to ourselves to make sure we were doing what was right for us." The words were said as if she was giving a speech. It sounded as if she had practiced them over and over again.

I felt sad after hearing her say that. I knew that the only reason it sounded so practiced was probably because she did have to practice as she was probably contemplating telling us many times, she probably made up that answer ages ago.

"How long has it been going on?" I ask suddenly, making them both look at me. "I mean, I am the elder brother and you have been keeping me from my big brother speech for a long time... I don't care what the gender is." I say with a wink towards Isabelle.

Her whole face lit up in a smile. Obviously glad I wasn't hurt or angry that she never told me.

Like I could be angry at her for that, not when I literally kept the fact that I was gay for years before telling her. I understand that she and Clary needed that time.

I mean, if it weren't for what happened with Jace and Camille, then I'm pretty sure my relationship with Magnus would've been hidden for much longer than it was.

"It's so cute, but seriously has your whole family been drinking from the lgbt cup of justice?" Lydia asks from where she is still glancing around the room.

This makes most of the people in the room laugh.

I meet eyes with Jace and Isabelle, sharing a private smile with the two of them.

I felt as if we had all thought the same thing then and there.

I'm so glad we didn't let Robert or anyone else ruin this for us. I know we were all worried about packing up our lives and moving out here, and we were all sad about losing our father, but this move was probably the best thing that any of us could've asked for.

We all ended up with someone in our lives that we could love and hopefully be with. We were doing good in school and had plenty of friends that accepted and loved us for who we are.

Mom is way more happy than she ever was with Robert. She smiles a lot more and spends more time with us now that she is not working the hours that Robert made her work when it came to the family business. I am pretty sure she is going to find someone who loves her, so she can forget about all the pain Robert put her through.

The only issues we are facing is the whole deal with Jace's family. But we all know that this is going to be a good thing for Jace. He is going to know his real family but still have us, the family he loves more than anything. And he has Simon to help him through anything and everything.

The only thing ruining this happiness is the impending court date with Camille.

 


	37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

 

**Chapter Thirty-Seven:**

**Jace-**

Things had been good so far. We had just been spending some time catching up from the past couple of days, once we got past the initial teasing of Alec and Magnus, as we really didn't need to catch up with them to know what had been going on in their lives.

I knew the peace wasn't going to last long, not when Jem and Will are going to be coming here.

Sure things with the others and Will had calmed down. I know that this whole thing was to spend some time with them, no longer punishing them for what Camille made them do, to show that we could all move past what she did to us all.

It's just going to be difficult now that Will knows who I am and what we mean to each other. I had managed to avoid the topic so far but I know that them being here is going to be the end of that. I also know that it would probably be better for me to get it over with now, considering it's days away from being the court date against Camille and I know for sure that Will's- I mean my family is going to be there.

Overall, it would be ten times worse for me if I went there and saw my whole family there being supportive over Will. Seeing my Mom and Dad there, my real Mom and Dad... I think it would just hurt me.

I know I will have Maryse, and she will always be like a mother to me as she basically raised me, but a selfish part of me wants to know my real Mom and Dad. It also wouldn't be fair to them, it isn't their fault that they have never really met me. I was taken from them so long ago.

All the signs are pointing for me to just get over myself, suck it up and get through it as I know it's going to be better for me in the long run.

I just can't stop myself from being too scared. I think it's because of Camille that I am worrying so much. I want my parents to love me, I want to love them also, but I am so afraid that when they see me or spend time with me, they will hate the person I have become. They will hate the person my "father" raised me to be.

The lingering fear that they will hate me because I have a boyfriend still lingers, even though I shouldn't worry as I've been told that Will is very close to my parents even though he is gay.

"Stop thinking so hard Jace, I'm trying to listen to Isabelle." I jump at Simons words. Completely forgetting that he was sitting right beside me with his arm around my shoulders so I could lean against his. I completely forgot we were socializing and I was no longer thinking about this stuff in the safety of my own bedroom.

Anyone who knows me well enough would be able to see that my thoughts were spiraling.

"Sorry, just worried about Will," I whisper to him, making sure no one else could hear me. "I know I shouldn't be, but I am." Simon turns his head to look down at me, a soft look on his face.

"Don't worry about it Jace, no matter what happens, I'll be here and so will Isabelle and Alec. We're not going to let you get hurt and neither shall Will, he just wants to get to know you." Simon kisses my forehead.

I nod slowly, taking the time to really listen to his words.

"Okay, that's true... and I know that. But I think what I'm really scared of is... I want to get to know him too and I want to know my family, but I still have some of the lingering fears that Camille made me feel." I take a deep shuddering breath as if I were trying to fight off tears, even though I'm pretty sure I wasn't about to cry over this.

Simon pulls me closer to him. "I know if I tell you to just forget about them, you won't. So I am just going to be there for you, to try and convince you that none of it is true, your parents are going to love you- Jace, you are their baby! a baby that was taken from them before they even got to get to know you." Simon shakes his head angrily. "They are going to be so happy to see the man you have grown into, and they are going to love you more than anything else, so don't you dare worry... okay?" Simon turns his eyes to me again.

This time I actually think I could cry, Simon was the best person I think I have ever been with, and I hate that it took me so long to see that. I also hate that I hurt him in the process of me realizing that he was.

I nod my head slowly, not quite trusting my voice not to break and for tears to fall down my cheeks. That was the last thing I needed everyone in this room to see. I would never live it down. Especially with my siblings in the room, they would tease me about being so sappy until the day I die.

So for now, I just hide my face in the fabric of Simon's jumper. Hiding the fact that I was trying to fight off tears and waiting for the moment Jem and Will arrive.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Simons words seem to have done the trick on me.

Jem and Will had just arrived at the house, Magnus and Alec had left the room to greet them and make sure they knew where they could put their things.

The best thing about Magnus' cabin was that it was large enough to fit us all comfortably. It was probably a good thing that his parents were quite rich and liked to give Magnus things.

As soon as I heard their footsteps walking towards the room we were all in, I move my face out of the comfort of Simons jumper. Knowing that I should be polite, it was best to also face my fears too... right?

Simon makes sure he has a tight hold of my hand as if he knew I needed it then, which I did and I was grateful for his support.

I send him a smile just as Magnus and Jem make their way through the door, with Alec and Will not too far behind them.

"So, as I was saying before, just make yourself comfortable." Magnus gestures around the room. I look up at Will, just as his eyes land on me.

Some part of me seems to take over and I longer feel worried about seeing him. Just being here in this relaxed environment, with Simon and my family by my side, just makes me feel a whole lot better, and it doesn't hurt that He is also my cousin.

I send Will a small smile, just to show that this was going to be okay.

The smile seems to take him a back, he obviously wasn't expecting me to be okay with this. I was going to have to sit down and have a talk with him.

Suddenly Simon is letting go of my hand and standing up. "Sorry, I'm just going to make drinks, does anyone want anything?" Simon asks the room, interrupting any conversation that had been going on.

People shout their requests at him, Simon takes a mental note then turns to walk out of the room, giving me a wink as he goes.

Ah, now I know what he was doing.

I guess now is the time... no time like the present I guess.

I look from the doorway, over to Alec who was still talking to Will whilst Magnus and Jem sat over next to one of the windows. They seemed to be in deep conversation about something. It was nice to see them getting along, hopefully, this will actually all work out in the end. Even though Jem still did look a little-worried being here, he was relaxing more as he continued his conversation with Magnus.

I focus my attention back onto Alec, who seems to sense me looking at him as a moment later his eyes flick past Will to meet mine. I send a silent look of going away to him, hopefully, he would catch on that I was ready to get this over with.

Alec seemed to have got it because of a moment later he looks over at the door and mumbles some excuse that I can't hear. He then gives Will a smile before stalking out of the room, probably going to help Simon with the drinks.

After Alec leaves, Will stands in the room, looking as if he didn't know what to do. I could see him eyeing Jem and Magnus as if he were considering going over to talk to them but then he shakes his head slightly.

I move slightly until I am no longer slouched on the sofa, leaving room for Will when I finally decide to call his name.

The movement, however, seems to make Will aware of me again because he is slowly moving his eyes around to look at me. Once I meet his eyes, I give him a small smile before moving my eyes to look at the sofa beside me, a silent offer for him to sit with me.

Will looked even more shocked than he did when he saw me smile at him the first time. He shakes it off though and slowly walks over to me. He walks over as if he were approaching a scared animal, worried that I was going to suddenly change my mind and not want to speak to him anymore.

I have to admit, deep down, I wanted to abort and just run to the nearest place I could hide. I didn't want to face this or to hear any rejection that might come from my blood family.

"Hi." Will mumbles as he cautiously sits down next to me, perched on the edge of the seat the furthest away from me that he could.

I don't know why but I appreciate that he is taking this seriously enough to respect any boundaries I might have. Sure I made it seem like I didn't want to speak to him or spend time with him, but it is nice that he want's to respect me.

"Hey... how are you?" I ask him, my voice sounding a little unsure and awkward. Will seemed to relax after I spoke to him.

He shrugs slightly. "I'm alright, been better I guess... this whole thing with Camille has been a little hard on my life- but you know, I can't complain." He answers before shooting a look over to Jem, who still seems to be deep in conversation with Magnus.

I nod my head to his words, knowing exactly how he is feeling. "At least you have Jem and a supportive... family." I'm surprised that Will even heard what I said by how quiet I had said it.

But he does.

He sighs before turning to me properly.

I know what's coming.

"I don't want to beat around the bush about this... not when I know who you are. I have waited my whole life to see you and now..." Will seemed to be struggling to say what he was about to say. "I hate this. I hate that I met you this way... knowing that the woman who strived to ruin my life, wanted to ruin you too...It makes me hate her, what she has done to you and what she did to Jem makes me wish things on her that I would never wish on anyone else... because you are my family and-" Will closes his eyes and runs a hand through his hair. "I fucking hate that she made you think that we wouldn't want to know you- we all love you so much and to have thought you dead or missing all these years... it's the worse part of my life. It's worse than everything I have ever been through." I'm surprised to see a single tear fall down Will's cheek. "You need your family- all of them." Will gestures around the room. "You need your family the most now- more than ever and she made you-" I reach out to grab his hand.

Will jerks in surprise, but as soon as he realized what I had done, he brings his other hand up to hold onto mine with both of his. "You are my family Jace. No matter how short of a time I have known you for... you are my family and I love you, I want to be there for you as your family. Even if you don't want everyone else to know yet- please let me in, I want to be here for you... always." Will is almost begging me.

I am surprised to find that the tears that were building earlier, have now begun to fall down my cheeks.

Hearing Will say all those things to me, after everything that was going through my head about not being accepted... it made me feel amazing. It made me feel like I actually had a chance here, that I would be able to have all of my family around me.

I meet Wills' eyes. "I- I want them to know," I say softly to him. "I don't want to be selfish and say that... but I feel like I need them- I need you all right now." I admit.

His eyes soften more than they already were. "I want that. I know they will want that, as soon they know who you are... it might make them even more angry that Camille prevented them from seeing you sooner, it's probably a good thing that our grandmother is the judge huh." He laughs slightly.

I cock my head to the side. "She is? I met her a couple of days ago, she seems quite...uh-" I wasn't too sure how to describe that woman. She was very tough and didn't seem to take any nonsense.

Will let out a loud laugh at my words. "Oh yeah, I know she's a little rough around the edges but not to those she loves, and even though she has never met you, I think you are her golden child." He shakes his head fondly. "I pray for Camille once Grandma finds out who you are."

I smile at his words. It was nice thinking that I had someone who'd fight for me that way.

I know Maryse would do the same, but it makes me feel better about my whole family situation when Will tells me these stories.

"I think you should meet them before the trial," Will says. "I'll bring you over for one of our family dinners, which happen a lot, your disappearance brought us so much closer as we shared grief." He smiles sadly at me. "At least this time around, it won't be as sad." He says with a small humorless laugh.

I join him slightly.

"I would like that," I say, highly looking forward to meeting my family.

Will smiles then without warning he yanks me into a hug.

I'm still for a moment before settling into the hold around me, hugging back just as tightly.

Simon was right, I had nothing to worry about.


	38. Chapter Thirty-Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First part of the last two chapters :( the second one will be uploaded when I'm back from college, and this one will also be edited then, this is a quick upload :)

 

**Chapter Thirty-Eight:**

**Jace-**

My heart was beating so hard I was beginning to think it was going to beat right out of my chest. I was standing outside the door to Will's house, psyching myself up to knock on the door to tell them I had arrived.

I had been only slightly nervous right up until I got to the door and I heard laughter coming from inside the house. I could hear friendly shouting followed by the laughter and it sent a jolt through my heart when it suddenly dawned on me that the people in this house were my family.

I shake my head, regretting telling Will that I wasn't going to bring anyone with me. I had told Maryse the same thing and she just nodded her head and offered to drop me off. She understood that this was something I needed to do on my own.

She had been good with us all the past couple of days. Tomorrow was the date of Camille's trial and she had taken it upon herself to be as supportive as she possibly could, not just to Alec and I, she was trying to be there for everyone. She had also taken Will under her wing, just for being my cousin.

Suddenly there is a large hand coming down and landing on my shoulder from behind me. It makes me jerk away and turn to see who the person was.

I was glad to see that it was only Jem standing there, looking mildly concerned. "Hey, it's just me... how long have you been out here for?" He asks before coming to stand beside me.

I shrug, turning to look away from him as I answer. "I got here five minutes ago." I say, shuffling my feet to distract myself from my embarrassment. "I wasn't expecting it to be this hard." I admit.

Jem wraps a hand around my wrist. "Hey, you don't have to do this if you don't want to... you can just join for dinner tonight then tell them another time?" Jem suggests, and it's pretty reasonable and I think I would've taken the option if I didn't feel such a strong need to have my whole family around me during the trial with Camille.

I shake my head quickly. "No, I want to do it tonight." I say, my voice shaking and making it seem like I was unsure about it. "I am going to do it tonight." I say more to myself before boldly reaching over to ring the doorbell.

Jem looks at me with calculating eyes, as if making sure I really was ready for this.

It wouldn't matter now anyway as someone had already answered the door.

It was a short woman with long black hair and bright blue eyes that matched Will's exactly. Her eyes were also kind and welcoming as she grinned at both of us. "Jem! sweetheart, it's so lovely of you to come to dinner." The woman pulls Jem into a warm hug, looking more like a child compared to Jem's height.

"Thank you for having me... again." Jem jokes, making the woman pull back and pretend to hit his arm.

"Nonsense, we love having you here." The woman scolds then fondly pats his cheek.

She then turns to me. "Now, who do we have here. I'm sorry, Will told me your name but I seem to have forgotten." The woman smiles kindly at me.

"Oh- my name is Jace." I reply, a little breathlessly. I don't know why but her kindness took me off guard. I wasn't expecting someone who didn't know me to be so nice, especially when I am a stranger coming into their family dinner.

"Ah, yes, I remember now." I'm surprised when she pulls me into a quick hug before pulling back. "It's lovely to meet you Jace, Will has told me so much about you. I'm his mother, you can call me Linette or Lin." She says kindly.

I can't help but smile back. Her friendly nature is putting me at ease and making me feel less terrified about this whole situation. I look down at my own hands, expecting there to be the bunch of flowers Maryse got me to offer the host, but I seemed to have forgotten them.

"Oh, I uh got you some flowers, but I think I left them in my Mom's car." I say. "Sorry." I apologise but she just waves me off.

"Don't worry about it dear, it's the thought that counts, now let's get you inside before it starts to get cold." She rests a hand on the back of my shoulder and steers me inside the house.

I am hit with a sudden blast of warmth as I step into the house. "You can hang your jackets up here." Lin gestures to a small room that was only slightly bigger than a closet. I shrug my jacket off and just as I am about to hang it up, Jem takes it from my hand.

"I'll do this, you go meet everyone else." He gestures with his head to room where all the sound of voices is coming from.

"Wonderful idea Jem, c'mon Jace let me introduce you to the family." Lin doesn't notice the way I jump slightly when she refers to them as family.

I follow Lin into the room, it was warm and open, a fireplace was blazing on one wall, spreading warmth into the room.

I look around at all the people until my eyes land on a couple sitting on one of the sofa's.

There was no doubt in my mind that they were my parents.

The woman was tall and lean, she had hair as blonde as mine that came down to her waist and had lines on her face that made her look a lot older than she should. But the lines beside her eyes showed that she did have fun in her life, it shows years of laughter and smiles. Her eyes were a lot similar to mine, when it came to their shape. The man next to her was large and strongly built like myself. His hair was black and his lips were the same as mine.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Will's friend Jace." Lin calls out to the room, she then turns to me before pointing to people in the room. "Jace I'd like you to meet my family. Him over there beside the window is my husband Edmund, he'd prefer you to call him Ed." Lin smiles over at Ed who raises his glass slightly towards me before turning back to talk to Will who I had just noticed standing beside him. "And of course you know Will, but just beside him are my daughters Ella and Cecily and the child with Cecily is her daughter Anna, my granddaughter." I smile at the child who looks to be around four. "Beside the fire is Cecily's husband Gabriel." Gabriel smiles brightly at me and I could automatically tell that he is a really friendly man. "And last but not least, my brother Stephen and his wife Celine." Lin points to the two people that I believe to be my parents.

Stephen and Celine.

These are the names of my mother and father. It was so weird to see them both just sitting there, not that far away from me but having no idea I was actually their son,

"Lovely to meet you Jace." Celine...or should I say Mom? says politely to me.

"Yes, Will and Jem have said so much about you. You sound like a good man." Dad says to me.

I stand there, almost in shock after hearing them speak to me.

I can't believe that this was my real family. Right here are the two people who gave me life, yet they didn't even get to see me live it.

"Jace." My eyes snap towards Will as he was the one who had just said my name. He was looking at me in a way that was a silent question on if I needed help or not.

I just smile at him before turning my attention back to my parents. "Hi, sorry for spacing out... it's nice to meet you all too. Will has told me so much about you all." I say and just with a side glance I could see that Lin was beaming with pride at her son.

"Come sit down, tell us about yourself and how you met our little Will." Ella calls me over to the free space on the sofa beside her and her sister Cecily. "He said you have been there for him and Jem during this whole thing with Camile Belcourt." Ella asks me innocently but I couldn't help but involuntarily flinch at her name.

Will is over beside me in a moment, one hand on my arm, as if he were expecting me to react badly to the subject of Camille. It was nice to have his support when it came to this subject coming up tonight.

"It's probably best not to-" Will starts but I cut him off, ready to just get it all out in the open as soon as I could.

"It's okay Will." I say to him before taking the seat that was offered to me by Ella. The girl herself now looked a little confused and turned her attention fully to me, as did her sister. "It's only fair that I be there for Will and Jem, as they have been there for me and my adopted brother Alec. We're like a strong unit of survivors." I say with a small smile.

Ella covers her mouth with her hand. "Jace, I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories for you-"

"Don't worry yourself about it... I'm just trying to prove her wrong by living my live and showing her that she doesn't have that control over me." I say, as it is true. I am trying to move past all that she has done to me, and at first that was just me accepting that I have deep feelings for Simon and now the next step for me is to just come clean to my family.

Ella smiles then nudges me with her shoulder. "That is very mature of you Jace. Have you found a way of doing that?" She asks, ignoring the looks that Will is sending her for being nosy.

I smile at her as the thoughts of Simon and how he has been there for me as I have for him, come into my head. "Yeah, my boyfriend Simon." Ella smiles knowingly. "He also suffered from Camille but he is much better at handling things and he has been there to make sure I don't become any more self destructive than I already am." I let out a small laugh.

A approving noise grabs my attention and my head snaps around to see the man who is my father, nodding his head to what I had just said. "Those are the people you need in your life. Are your family supportive of you?" He asks.

I couldn't help but share a look with Will, a small secret smile shared between us. "Of course, my adopted brother and sister have been there for me the most. Especially my brother Alec-"

"That Alec?" Cecily cuts me off, her eyes moving from me to Will then over to where Jem is standing talking to Lin with a kind of natural comfort that I have never had.

It took me a moment to understand what Cecily was talking about, but then I did.

"Oh- yeah, that Alec." I answer her, my voice coming out hesitant as I am unsure how they will feel about Alec, considering all that happened with him, Jem, and Will.

Ella covers her mouth again as Cecily begins to speak. "I can't believe what Camille did to him, I'm so sorry your family had to go through that. I remember when Grandma found out about that- god! she was livid, I don't think I have ever seen her look so mad." She shakes her head. "Don't worry, I know my grandma and she will make sure that Camille gets what she deserves." Cecily reaches out to take my hand.

I smile at her, making sure that I met her eyes as I did so, to make sure she could see how thankful I was.

What I wasn't expecting was for her eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, then for her to lean right into my space, grabbing my face with both of her hands. She keeps my face still whilst she searches my eyes- My eyes!

"Cecily-" I hear Will start to say her name but it was too late, the damage was done.

"Your- oh.... is it? Will?" Cecily didn't even move an inch as she directed the question at Will.

"Cecily, can you please stop frightening our guest." Lin comes storming over, getting ready to try and remove her daughter from me, but Cecily held on strong.

"Mama, this isn't- it can't...." She is shaking her head. "Answer me William." Cecily snaps at her brother.

I flick my eyes to look at Will, Jem had come to stand beside him and was pressing a comforting hand to his back. Will sighed and dropped his head for a moment before looking back up to address his sister. "I am about ninety-eight percent sure that it is him." He answers.

A strange sort of noise escapes Cecily's mouth before she backs away to cover her face with both of her hands. "Oh my god, you kept this from us? from them!" Cecily was now looking mad.

"Sweetheart, please tell us what's going on." Lin presses a hand to her daughters shoulder, looking her over once before looking at me.

"Look at his eyes Mama." Cecily whispers low enough that I'm sure only I and Lin could hear her.

My eyes slowly look up from Cecily, until I am looking into the bright blue eyes of Lin. She stares at me for a long moment, trying to figure out what had gotten her daughter in such a state.

"I don't see what-" Lin starts but then her mouth snaps shut and her eyes squint in focus.

"Lin?" My father had gotten up to come to his sisters side. He places an arm around her back and she automatically sinks back into it her eyes wide and her mouth moving as if she were trying to say something but nothing was coming out. "Cecily, what is going on?" My father looks at me then at his sister again.

I suddenly felt something wet on my cheek and I was beginning to shake and also starting to find it hard to breathe.

"Stephen- it's- that's your son." Lin gasps. "Jonathan." Lin was holding onto Stephen's shirt for dear life. "Look at his eyes, the left one is exactly like little Jonathan's." Stephens' eyes snap towards me.

He gently lets go of Lin, who takes a step back, her husband comes up behind her, taking Stephens' place at supporting Lin.

I watch as Stephen gets down onto his knees in front of me. I could see in his eyes that he had understood what Lin meant straight away and was now raising a hand to gently touch my face, just a simple brush over my cheeks, as if he was making sue it was really me.

"Stephen?" A whisper comes from not too far away. I glance to the side to see my mother standing there with so much hope in her eyes that it made me hurt just to look at her. "Is it?" She asks.

Stephen takes a firmer hold of my face. He was no longer looking just at my eyes, it was as if he were looking over every feature of my face.

I could actually pin point the moment he fully believed it.

"Oh my god." He gasps, tearing he eyes from me to look over at Celine. "It's him- it's our baby." He says to her in a breathless voice, a small gasping laugh soon follows it before he is turning to me and pulling me into an unexpected hug.

It was an odd feeling.

None of the men in my life had been really big huggers when it came to their sons. I don't think my "father" hugged me at all after the age of three years old. I'm sure that the first hug I had gotten after that was when I met Maryse, she thought I would need the comfort after seeing my "father" die. I remember not being too sure what to do in that moment, I know I hugged her back and that I felt a little overwhelmed by the feeling of love I got from that one hug that she had given me.

I had gotten a lot of hugs after that, but none of them were ever from the male authority figure. The only one of his children that Robert would hug was Isabelle, and he only did that because she was a girl. He believed that men didn't hug and would get annoyed whenever Alec and I would give each other a hug whenever something bad happened or we were celebrating.

For some reason though, this felt right. It was as if my body knew that this was my father and suddenly I craved more.

My arms came up to wrap around him, and I nestle my head into his neck. I knew it might have looked childish, but this was my father and for some reason it felt as if something that was missing inside of me, that I wasn't aware of, had now returned, leaving me feeling more whole that I ever have. I didn't know I would feel this way when meeting the man who was my real birth father. I think it's because I know that he loves me and he never had in all the years I had been missing from him. He made me feel wanted after all the times I have been thrown aside by the people in my life. He didn't stop looking for me for my entire life and I didn't even know about it.

"My son." Dad whispers through the small sobs that were escaping his body. I felt his hand stroke through my hair before his lips pressed firmly against my head, staying there for a moment before the press of his cheek was felt against my head. "I can't believe it- you're home." I felt another pair of hands touch my shoulders then one pressing through my hair.

I look up from my spot hidden in my fathers shoulder. Standing beside us was my mother, looking as if she had just received the best thing on earth. "Jonathan- I can't" She breathes out before Dad is pulling her into the hug with the both of us.

"I love you so much." Dad kisses my head again. "I love you and I'm so glad that you're home." He presses a hand protectively behind my head, holding me close to him as he envelopes me into the warmth of his body and mom's.

I had never felt this kind of love.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

  
Things after that seemed to all blur into one big re introduction to the family. This time there were more hugs and kisses passed around, more people crying and gushing about how happy they were to see me and how I've grown into an amazing and mature man.

Before I knew it, I was sitting in between my parents at the dining table.

Lin and Gabriel were in the kitchen finishing off the food whilst we waited for who must be my grandma to return.

"Grandma is going to be so happy to see you." Ella suddenly pipes up from where she sits across from me. "She might smother you more than Uncle Stephen did." She jokes before smirking at Dad.

"That's if she manages to get past her anger first." Will throws into the conversation. "I told her all about Jace, so she knows exactly what Camille did to him." He informs the table.

That seemed to snap everyone back to reality.

A gentle touch to my hand makes me look to my right. Mom was staring at me with worried eyes. "I don't mean to pry, I know we have only just really met each other but... what did that demon do to you?" She asks, eyes watering slightly.

"Nu uh, we can talk more about this when Mother gets here, and when Will's guest also arrives-" Just as Lin comes into the room, talking away and carrying a large steaming plate of carrots, the doorbell rings, cutting her off mid sentence.

"Who else is coming?" Cecily asks, before reaching for a roast potato, dodging the slap her mother was about to give to her hand.

"Well, whilst Jace was being introduced to the family, Will and I were talking and thought it might be best for Jace if we invited someone to be here for him, as emotional support." Lin looks a little nervous and guilty as she watches her husband move into the hallway to answer the door. "We thought that the conversation was soon going to get into the deeper stuff, aka Camille, so I got Will to call Jace's boyfriend to be here for him." Lin smiles softly at me, just as the boy in question awkwardly walks in through the door.

"Simon! how lovely of you to join us, come sit here." Ella is quick to jump out of her seat, offering it to Simon so he could sit across from me. As he sits, he meets my eyes, a silent question of are you okay?

I give him a smile and a nod of my head, which seems to make him relax slightly. "So Simon, have you and Jace been dating for long?" Asks Ella straight off the bat. I lower my face to my hands, knowing that this was going to be so awkward for both Simon and myself.

"Oh hush Ella, leave the boy alone." Lin scolds her daughter before placing a hand on Simon's back. "Simon, thank you for joining us here, we thought Jace could use someone when it comes to... certain topics." Lin pulls a face at the thought of those subjects.

Simon looks up at her and smiles. "It's no problem, I'll always be around if he needs me." I feel something inside me flutter at the comment. "Are you?... are you Jace's mother?" Simon asks Lin then looks to me to answer the question.

"Oh no, dear I'm Jace's mother. Lin is Will's mother." I hear Mom join into the conversation. There was something in her voice that I could only describe as fondness.

Simon's eyes flick to Mom then beside me to Dad. "Oh, I can see it now." He smiles at me, the look of pure happiness for me shining in his eyes. "I'm so happy that you have met each other." He says to three of us. "I know the most how much Jace needed this." He scratches the back of his neck then fiddles with his glasses. "God, it's never been in a relationship that involves meeting the parents twice, it's a little daunting." He laughs awkwardly.

I hear Dad chuckle. "As long as you are their for my boy then you are good with me. And from what Jace has told me then you are more than good with me." Dad picks up a jug of water from the middle of the table. "Drink? Simon?" He offers the jug towards Simon. "I would offer you something stronger, but only water for the kids in Lin's house." He winks at his sister.

Lin just playfully sticks her tongue out at Dad before going back into the kitchen to finish the food.

"I spoke to Alec and Izzy before I got here." Simon mentions as he holds out his glass for Dad to fill. "They are wondering how it went, Alec is of course over worrying about everything." I smile fondly at the mention of Alec worrying. I knew that's exactly what he would be doing.

"How is your brother?" Mom asks, surprising me with the lack of hesitance of anything negative when she refers to Alec as my brother. "What happened to him was horrible, I can't imagine what your mother is going through." Mom shakes her head.

I can't seem to find the words to answer her, I just stare, completely surprised that she was okay with calling Maryse my Mom and Alec my brother. I wasn't expecting her to realize that they were also my family too, that I would need them in my life, always.

Simon swoops in to answer for her though, obviously seeing the look on my face. "Alec is handling a lot better now, he and Magnus are on good terms with each other and they are as in love as two teenagers can be." He answers before thinking for a moment. "Then again he is more worried than not because this involves Magnus and Jace." He shakes his head. "He and Jace are the same when it comes to taken on other peoples problems as their own." As Simon says this Mom lets out a groan.

"Oh you don't have to tell me about that, Jace's father also has that bad habit." She smiles softly at Dad, a look I had never really seen between a married couple, god knows Maryse and Robert didn't share this love when they were together. "You could imagine what it was like in the first couple of years after losing Jace." Stephen smiles back at her.

"He was your new born baby, of course I was going to try and take all of your stress as you already had a bond with him." Dad looks down at me. "But now it seems all worth it now that I see what sort of man you grew up to be." He puts a hand on my shoulder. "And I can't wait to continue to watch you grow, and I want you to know son that we understand that you have your own family and your own life, but we are always going to be here for you if you need us to be." He squeezes my shoulder.

I feel the press of the side of Simon's foot against mine, a way of comforting me even if he couldn't reach me. I don't really think I need his comfort right now but I wouldn't say no to it.

I didn't need it because I knew what I was going to do in this moment, because I knew what I needed to say. "You are my parents too. It doesn't matter that I have only just met you, I will see you as my Mother and Father, just as I would see anyone else here as my cousin or other relative, the reason why I feel this way is something I will tell you later when we talk about Camille." Just the mention of her having something to do with me makes Dad flinch.

"You are always going to be my Son and I am so sorry that it took so long for us to be together, we tried so hard to find you but- it seemed as if you and the man who took you just vanished from the earth." She shakes her head.

"Enough of the heavy talk, the food is ready and Mom just pulled up outside, better go greet her Stephen." Lin comes bustling into the room with Gabriel following behind her holding the rest of the food, which was pretty impressive, considering the amount there was.

Dad stands up from his chair and moves to leave the room, but before he does, he leans down to press a kiss to the top of my head. He does the same to Mom before leaving the room.

I notice that after Lin and Gabriel finish setting out the food, they sit down in places in a way that allows the head of the table to be free. Perhaps this is where my grandma sits all the time. I thought that was thing, to have the head of the house sit at the head of the table. Perhaps they all just have a respect for my Grandma that means she sits there each time.

Speaking of my grandma, she is walking in with Dad now.

She was not what I was expecting from my grandma. I wasn't actually sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this.

She was in a pristine black blazer and dress trousers with a dark red top underneath, they matched the heels she was wearing. She didn't look like the typical grandmother and she looked a lot younger than what I would've thought.

"Sorry about being late, with a trial this size coming up, we've all been working overtime in the office." She explains as she takes the seat Dad offers to her.

"Don't worry about it Mother, we all understand and are thankful for the amount of work you are putting into this." Lin smiles at her mother then offers her a bottle of wine, Grandma just shakes her head then reaches for the glass jug of water that was still on the table. "Trust me mother, I think you are going to need a drink tonight." Lin insists.

Grandma looks up from the glass jug, over to her daughter with a raised eyebrow. She then looks around the table, spotting Simon and I sitting not that far away from her. "What's going on? Who are these people?" Grandma asks, her eyes moving over to Dad as he re takes his seat next to me.

"Mother, I'd like you to meet Jace." Dad puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes it slightly.

My grandmother looks me over once. "Oh, I recognise his face from the files, he was one of the kids hurt by Camille, is he here to give a fuller statement?" she asks.

Mom takes my hand under the table. "That's partly the reason why he is here, because from what I have heard from him tonight, I doubt he told the whole story in the first place." Mom looks at me once before turning back to face my grandmother. "But, Imogen, that's not the only reason why Jace is here. He has been around Will for a while now and it led to them realizing something I guess, but it seems that Jace is actually Jonathan." Mom's eyes are a little teary again.

My grandmother just stares a little blankly at Mom for a moment, then her eyes flick over to me. "Oh-I can see it... I thought- I thought you looked like my son when I saw your photo." She shakes her head and discreetly wipes under her eyes. "I didn't dare think it- I mean why would you be here after being stolen from here in the first place? I thought it didn't make any sense."

I swallow around the lump in my throat. "I think the man that took me is dead- well I know he is dead I just don't know if he was the one who took me, he was just the one that told me he was my father." I look between my parents. "I believed him until Camille found out who I was, so it's all a bit new for me and that's why it took me so long to actually come here- it even took me ages to talk to Will." Grandma looks down the table towards Will, who looks a little sheepish and guilty, obviously expecting to be yelled at.

"You knew?" Grandmother asked. "You knew and you didn't think to tell any of us? not even your aunt and uncle?" Her voice was clipped as she spoke.

Will leans forward, an apologetic look on his face. "I couldn't Gran, it wasn't my choice and I was respecting that. There is a bigger story behind it all and you'll understand once you know." Will tries to explain himself without actually telling her my story.

Jem places his hand on top of Will's which is sitting clenched on the table.

"It really wasn't his fault- I didn't want anyone to know." I jump in quickly so she wouldn't stay annoyed at Will.

"It's okay Jace, we understand that this would be hard for you." Mom soothes a hand through my hair before sending a look at Dad over my head.

"Celine is right Mother and I was right of Will to respect Jace's wishes, let's just be glad he is with us now, especially with this being such a hard time for him." Dad effortlessly defuses the tension in the room with just a couple of words.

The mention of the upcoming trial seems to sober grandma up because she instantly sits upright. "I'm so sorry Jonathan, I completely forgot that Camille did what she did to you- I will make sure she is locked up for a long time, not that I will have much to do considering she almost led the death of Mr Lightwood." I flinch at the blunt statement. I never like to hear the reminder that Alec almost died, and I hate that it was at the hand of Camille.

"Mother." Dad warns, making Grandma look up from her plate.

She looks at me, seeing the pained look on my face for a moment before reaching over the table to take my hand. "Don't worry Jonathan, I will do everything in my power to get justice for you. No one messes with my family, and if your family is the Lightwoods then in turn that makes them mine too." She squeezes my hand. "Now, enough of this deep stuff for now, tell me about your life Jace, your friends and family... a possible girlfriend?" She hints with a wink.

I blush at her words before sending a worried glance at Simon. "Uh, no-no girlfriend but I-"

"He's dating Simon, Gran." Will helpfully adds then motions with his head to Simon who was looking even more awkward now than he did when he arrived.

Grandma turns her head in shock. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I forgot you were here... I know your face, Simon Lewis? yes I ran into your mother just today." Gran smiles at him, making Simon ease the tension in his shoulders slightly. "She was so thankful that I was the one working your case, she spoke to me for half an hour just about you and how proud she is of you, I must say if you are the one dating my grandson, then you couldn't have made me any more pleased if you tried." I smile brightly, the first smile on my face since we sat down to dinner.

I watched Simon's cheeks flare up red, and he opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out apart from a small "thank you." That sounds more like a question than anything else.

"Great, now lets eat and listen to the tales my grandson must have to share, what with having three siblings and all." Grandma reaches out, without looking at Lin, for the glass bottle of wine she had denied earlier.

Lin was right, she was going to need it.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dinner past quickly after that and it was soon approaching the time that Maryse was coming to collect Simon and I.

The whole way through the meal I spoke about growing up with Isabelle, Alec and Max. How they had accepted me so quickly into their family when they adopted me.

I told them all about Alec and how he was my best friend, but I felt like I had failed him sometimes, especially when I didn't notice that he was suffering in silence because he didn't think he could come out. Sadly Jem and I were bombarded with questions about Jem's relationship with Alec and about all the rumours that spread. That lead to a not so nice conversation about Camille, but thankfully that was the last time she was brought up. I remember changing the subject quickly after that, telling them how amazing Alec and Magnus were together.

Mom smiles whilst I told the short story of how the got together, from what I remembered of it as I was still the last to know and only got most of the story from the others. I didn't tell Mom that because then I would have to tell her what Camille did to me, and I had decided to wait until I spoke about it in court. I didn't think it to be wise to tell them now, not with the judge of said trial sitting at the same table.

Things got awkward, but in a good way, when Dad nudged me playfully and asked how I got with Simon.

Most of the story I told was hiding the real truth. I told them how I met Simon at the mall in the early days of our arrival here and how I didn't act on my feeling for a long time before I decided to just go for it and ended up finding that it was the best decision I had ever made.

I could tell that everyone bought the story, well, everyone but Grandma.

I wouldn't expect anything less as she was a judge and was probably really good at telling if people were lying or not. I wasn't going to push it and it seemed like she wasn't going to either.

Well I thought she wouldn't but it wasn't until Maryse had pulled up outside.

"Jace honey, your mother is outside." Lin calls from the front room.

Everyone had been sitting in there whilst Simon, Jem and I got our coats. Apparently Simon and Maryse had arranged to drop Jem home.

I yank on my jacket quickly so I would have time to go through and say goodbye to my family. But it didn't matter because seconds later Mom came through the door and had pulled me into the tightest hug I had ever received. "Goodbye sweetheart." She sounded as if she were close to tears.

I hug her back just as tightly. "I'll call you when I get home." I say to her, knowing that she would panic if she didn't hear from me. "I promise." I add on as an afterthought.

She nods her head against my shoulder. "I just need to make sure you are safe, I can't lose you again." She whispers, her voice thick with emotion.

"Celine, you're suffocating the poor boy." Dad's voice rings throughout the hallway.

Mom moves back from me but doesn't let go, just moves far enough to look back at Dad. "Oh shush you, I can't help it." Mom playfully hits dad's arm.

"I know you can't... and neither can I." Dad says and it's the only warning I get before being swept up into a larger hug, but just as tight as the hold Mum had on me.

"Best you two go on ahead, I feel Jace will take a moment longer." I could hear Grandma's voice from inside the warm hold of my parents.

"We'll wait outside." Simon answers her.

"Goodbye Jem darling, and it was lovely to meet you Simon!" There was a shout from the living room that sounded a lot like Lin. I hear the front door open then the sound of feet leaving the house, a second later I head the sound of someone else coming out of the living-room and following Simon and Jem outside.

I finally pull back from Mom and Dad.

"You promise to call, I just want to make sure you are safe." Dad places his hand tightly on my shoulder.

"I will be safe, now that she is aware of what happened, Maryse has been very protective over us all." I tell them, "But yeah I promised I would call you when I get home, after I manage to get away from Alec and Isabelle." I finish with a small laugh, knowing that as soon as I get home I was going to be bombarded with questions about tonight. Maryse would wait until it wasn't so fresh, but I know Alec and Isabelle don't have that filter built in to them.

"Okay, that gives me some piece of mind." Dad grins. "Siblings can annoy you sometimes, I get it." Dad jokes with a roll of his eyes making me smile along with him.

"I think it's time we allow Jonathan to make his way home, don't you think? He has a long day tomorrow and he needs his sleep." Grandma places a hand on my elbow, as if ready to guide me out of the hold of my parents.

"Yes, yes I'm sorry for keeping you Jace, I'm just so excited to have you back... but I guess I will see you tomorrow." Mom looks down at the floor. "We'll be there for Will, and now for you and your family-" She stops herself then and for a moment it's quiet before she pulls me into one last hug. "I love you darling and I promise that I won't let anyone else hurt you." She pulls back to look me in the eyes. "I promise. Now go home and get some sleep, we'll see you some more tomorrow." She kisses the top of my head before stepping back closer to Dad.

"We'll speak later Jace, we both love you." Dad gives one last squeeze to my shoulder before letting it go.

Grandma smiles at me then takes a gentle hold of my wrist as we both walk towards the open door.

"Jonathan, I want to give you something that you should have received years ago." She reaches up to her neck, pulling a thin chain off from around her neck. She uses the hold on my wrist to pull up my hand, using her smaller and more aged hand to pry open my own. "Every male in the family owns one of these rings, there supposed to be passed down from father to son, but I've always had your one." She drops a silver ring into my hand then forces my fingers to curl around it. "It's yours now my boy." She places a hand on my cheek. "You really do look like your father." She mumbles before stepping back and allowing me the space to walk outside.

"Uh- thank you." I mumble before smiling at her. "I'll see you tomorrow." I say before stepping out of the door and making my way to the car.

Jem and Will were standing just off to the side of the car, talking quietly to each other. Will smiles when he sees me then breaks off from Jem with a small sorry.

He comes over to me and pulls me into a quick hug. "I told you there was nothing to worry about." I could tell he was smirking without even needing to look at his face.

"Yeah, yeah I guess you were right." I joke as I hug him back, my fist clenched tightly around the ring in my hand.

"I always am, you'll soon learn that." He pulls back with a smug look on his face.

"I'm not so sure about that, you will see that too it seems." I smirk at him. "I'll make sure that I prove that to you." I step back towards the car, I notice Simon leaning against the back door whilst Max sits in the front of the car, fast asleep. A sure way to get Max to sleep is to take him on a drive during the night.

Will shakes his head, "I highly doubt it, but I will love to watch you try." He challenges as he makes his way back to Jem who was grinning at our exchange.

"Whatever." I shake my head, turning away from him to face Simon.

Simon smiles at me once my attention was on him. He wraps his arms around my back and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. "I'm proud of you." He admits. "You actually did it and you were so strong- I don't think you even needed me there." He rests his head on my shoulder.

I rest my head on his. "I didn't know until I saw you, but I may have not needed you there but I wanted you there." I say softly to him. "I thought it would just be amazing to see my family but to be with them and have you there- and to have them love you almost as much as I do, it made my night so much better."

Simon head snaps up to look at me. His eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped open in shock.

"What?" I ask him, completely confused as to what was wrong with him. Did I say something wrong that might offend him?

"Do you not realise what you just said?" Simon asks, a smile replacing the shocked look on his face. "You basically just said that you loved me."

What? I did?

I think back to what I said, did I actually say that I love him- oh! I did.

I do, without even thinking about it, I realise that I did love Simon and I loved everything about him and everything we have gone through with each other.

"I do." I say to him.

His smile gets brighter. "Oh you do, do you?" He smirks, pulling me in closer, both of us seemingly forgetting where we were.

"Of course I love you, I think I have for a long time, and I at first just didn't want to admit it, but I do Simon, I really do love you-"

Simon stops me with a kiss.

His hands move up to my neck as he pulls away again. "I love you too, idiot." He grins at me. "Took you a while to get here didn't it." He hugs into me.

I hug him back with a small laugh. "Shut up you," I kiss his head. "It may have taken a while but I got here."

"Do you think it will take even longer to get home than it took you to admit that?" I snap my head to the side to see that it was Jem than had spoken. "Because I'd like to go home." He raises an eyebrow.

I sigh before letting Simon go.

We smile at each other before getting into the car.

We hold onto each others hands as we finally get comfortable in the car.

As I expected Maryse was silent when we got in, apart from a nice hello and a reminder to be quiet because Max was asleep.

The rest of the car ride was quiet but I didn't mind because I was happy.

I had my whole family, who loved me no matter what Camille would say.

And I finally had someone who I loved I a way I had loved no one else.

My life was finally going upwards.


	39. Chapter Thirty-Nine

 

**Chapter Thirty-Nine**

**Alec:**

A gentle hand on my shoulder, shaking me slightly, is what wakes me up in the morning. It takes me by surprise because usually when someone wakes me up it's Isabelle and she prefers to just jump on me.

I open my eyes, getting ready to ask Isabelle what her problem is, only to come face to face with Magnus.

"Good-morning sleepy head." He grins before running a hand through my hair.

I smile softly at him, confused but not unhappy as to why he is here. "Hey, what's going on? why are you here so early?" I ask him before sitting up in bed. I pull him up beside me, taking him into my arms.

Magnus settles into me, resting his head sleepily on my shoulder. "Your mom and my mom arranged for Maryse to take me to the court today as Mom was unable to get the morning off work, she'll meet us at the court later before the trial, also we are labeled as emotional comfort to each other." He turns slightly to look at me. "Tell me, Alexander, am I your emotional comfort?" He asks.

I rest my head against his. "Of course you are, you always make me feel better, Magnus," I answer. "I'm just so glad that you are here now, I was up half of the night worrying about this," I tell him before yawning as if it would prove my point.

Magnus sits up then turns on his knees to look at me. "Darling, you should've called me if you were worrying so much." Magnus strokes a hand over my cheek. "I was up late watching films with my mother, but I would've spoken to you if you needed me to." I shake my head.

"It was fine Magnus, honestly I went through your list of shows and watched a couple of the pilot episodes." I smile at him. "It was like you were there in spirit." I joke, making him fight off a smile.

"Darling that was a terrible joke." He shakes his head, looking down at the covers that were still tangled around my body. "But I'm going to forgive you for it, we have too much to do today." He jumps up from the bed and holds out a hand for me to take. "Come on Alexander, your mother is making breakfast for everyone, I think she is trying to make us all happy and forget the whole ordeal for a little while." I take Magnus' hand.

"Yeah, that's something she does, she hates us being stressed. She had a whole brunch made for us when we woke up on the day of her court date with Dad to see who would get custody." I tell Magnus as he helps pull me off the bed.

Magnus pouts. "Poor Maryse, she and you do not deserve any of this." I hum in agreement as we begin to make our way down the stairs to join everyone for breakfast.

Isabelle was standing at the bottom of the stairs, talking to someone on the phone and smiling.

"Isabelle darling, tell Clarissa we said good-morning," Magnus says over Isabelle's shoulder, making her jump slightly.

I laugh at her startled expression because it's not something I see all that often. Magnus laughs with me as we leave Isabelle to her call.

As we enter the kitchen I see that Max and Jace are already sitting there getting stuck into the food that Mom keeps putting onto the table. She has barely placed any of it on the table before Jace and Max are taking their pick.

"Alec, good morning darling, are you hungry?" Mom asks when she sees Magnus and I walk in.

Jace and Max barely even pay attention as we sit down at the table. "I guess so, I would eat but I'm a little afraid to get in the way of those two and their food." I motion with my hand to the two brothers in front of me. "Jace. Honestly please tell me that you didn't eat like this last night?" I watch in disgust as Max takes a bottle of syrup and just covers his pancakes in it, surely it wouldn't even taste like a pancake anymore.

"Haha Alec, you know I eat when I'm nervous," Jace whispers to me. He obviously knows not to talk about today right now either, I know that Mom is trying to be strong for us and this is just her way of being comforting, and I am happy that she would do this for us.

"Fair enough, but you do know that Magnus and I need to eat also, not forgetting Isabelle either," I say before carefully reaching for two slices of bacon and holding one out for Magnus to take.

"Izzy already ate, she must've seen this coming as she was the first one up." Mom mumbles as she places to loaded plates in front of Magnus and I. "Lucky I saw it coming too and saved these for you." She kisses the top of my head and squeezes Magnus' shoulder.

"See-" Jace motions to Mom with a piece of bacon. "This is why the girls are the smart ones in this family." Jace smiles brightly at Mom. Everyone knew he was just fishing for more food, but Mom barely pays him any attention. Too busy starting on the cleaning up.

"Maryse, don't worry about the cleaning, I'll do that. You just sit down and have something to eat or have a rest." Magnus says to Mom as she almost drops a plate on the floor from trying to pick it out of the sink too quickly.

"Oh no, it's fine dear-" Mom tries to convince us but her hands are beginning to shake now.

I push myself up from my chair before going over to take her soapy hands into mine. "Mom, honestly you've done enough for us already this morning, go have a lie-down or something, you are over stressing yourself," I say to her, trying hard to get her to focus on my face and not the dish filled the sink.

"Alec-"

"No mom, please go have a lie down... for me, please?" I ask her, and it seems to be her undoing because she sags and lets her head fall forward. "Okay, I'll go for a lie-down... just please make sure you are ready in an hour." She squeezes my hand.

"Of course we will be," I say to her before letting go of her hands. "Now up to bed young lady," I say as a mock order.

She just gently taps me on the back of her hand. "I'll show you young lady." she jokes before wiping her hands dry on a towel and heading out of the room.

Once she was gone, I sit back next to Magnus, ready to get right into my food.

"Have you heard from Simon yet this morning, Jace?" Magnus asks conversationally as he takes a bite of his eggs.

Jace smiles a little at the mention of Simon. "No, he is having some intense bonding time with his mother and sister this morning. We spoke last night and just agreed to give each other family time until we get to the court later." He tells us. "But our conversation last night was enough to make me feel better about not talking to him this morning." There was something about the way he said it that makes me believe that he isn't telling us something.

"Ooh, I got here just in time for the gossip." I jump slightly at Isabelle's words as she hops up onto a seat at the head of the table. "Come on Jacey, spill the beans, don't leave us hanging." She pokes at his arm annoyingly, knowing that it will annoy him enough to lead him into telling her.

"Enough- enough! okay, I'll tell you- Simon said he loved me!" Jace bats her hands away.

Isabelle's grin doubles in wideness before she flings her arms around Jace. "OH BIG BRO! that's amazing- wait... did you say it back?" She asks, pulling back to look at him seriously, her arms coming to cross in front of her chest.

Jace looks sheepish before looking down at the ground and smiling. "Uh- well the thing is... I was the one who said it first..." He looks back up at Isabelle. "He was the one to say it back-"

"JACE!" Isabelle had yanked Jace back into a hug. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner! This is amazing, I'd never thought I'd see the day when both of my brothers were in love!" Her comment makes me blush and duck my face, I hear a brief laugh from Magnus before his hand takes mine under the table. "I have to tell Clary about this, if Simon is busy then there is no way that she would know about this and she needs to know." Isabelle jumps back up from the table, her phone already halfway to her ear before she is even out of the room.

It was silent after that all of us just sitting looking where she had just left the room. Max looking more confused than anything else.

"Well... I think your sister said it all, but congratulations Jace, you and Simon deserve it." Magnus smiles at Jace before turning back to me, "Oh Alexander they all know that we said I love you to each other, no need to be embarrassed about it." Magnus teases then pinches at my cheeks.

I bat his hand away gently. "Yeah, yeah enough." I joke before shoving another bit of bacon into my mouth. "So, I need to get ready so it won't be a big deal for you to do the cleaning up? okay? good? great." I jump up from the table before Jace or Max could complain about being left to do the cleaning.

Magnus follows behind me as I leave the kitchen, passing Isabelle again as she excitedly speaks to her girlfriend on the phone. "Clary says good morning Magnus," Isabelle comments as we walk past her to get to the stairs.

"Well, tell Clary you need to go now as we have less than an hour to be ready." I say to Isabelle before reaching to take her phone from her, but she just jumps away from me. "I can do it myself Alec, jeez." She jokes then turns back to her phone. I just shake my head play fully before Magnus starts to pull me upstairs.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A very quick shower and a slightly longer styling session with Magnus, and an ever longer car ride, we finally arrived at the courthouse.

To no one's surprise, there were plenty of reporters and camera's outside of the building. Once the story of Camille spread, it became big news as some of her crimes were so disgusting that people just couldn't help but want to know more. They didn't care about our feelings over it, they only cared about getting a good story.

I notice as our car pulls up to the side of the street, a large man pushes his way through the crowd of people as they begin to turn and shove their way past each other to get to the car.

"What?" Jace leans over Magnus and me to look out the window more clearly. "That's my Dad." He tells us. I push him to the side so I could get a better look at the man.

There was no mistaking them to be related. You could see that as soon as you looked at them, it was weird that Will never saw the connection before.

"He must be coming to help us through that crowd." Magnus muses as he fiddles with a loose strand of his hair. Always camera ready, that's how I could describe Magnus.

Mom gets out of the car first, walking around to the side of the car, opening it for Isabelle to get out. No one really pays that much attention to the two of them as they weren't actually involved in what happened, they weren't the story people were trying to get.

Mom nods her head once at Jace's dad before taking a firm hold on Isabelle's wrist, pulling her into the crowd and out of sight.

A moment later, someone else pushes through to join Jace's father. "Who's that?" I ask Jace, who leans forward again to look out of the window again.

He squints for a moment, trying to get a good look at his face. "That's my uncle Gabriel, Will's dad," Jace tells us then unbuckles his seatbelt just as Jace's dad leans over and opens the door.

"Morning boys, let's get you out of here." The man smiled at us, saving the brightest smile for his son. It was pretty sweet to see how they interacted, I was so happy for my brother.

Jace and Magnus basically clamber over me to get out of the car, Jace and Will's dad are by their sides quickly blocking off the press from getting to them. Not that it stopped them from trying, as soon as Jace and Magnus were in view there was shouting and shoving and about a million flashing cameras.

Magnus turns back briefly to hold out his hand to me.

I realized then that I had frozen against my seat, shaking at the thought of all the people and the cameras around me. It's the last thing I needed, especially since this day was already going to be emotional enough as it is, I didn't need to have a panic attack from all the press attention.

I take a breath though before reaching out and holding onto Magnus' hand tightly.

If it were possible, the noise and shoving increased tenfold when I stepped out. I began to hear people shouting things about my suicide attempt, some of it was completely inappropriate. A particular snotty looking man, who didn't even seem to be press was shouting that I should have succeeded, considering my lifestyle. Ah, it seems that kind of crowd is here today.

Jace and Will's Dad begin to start pushing their way through the crowds, each of them holding onto Jace and Magnus whilst Magnus held onto me. We have all huddled us as we walked through the crowd in the small amount of space cleared by the two men in front of us.

It was all going smoothly until a large hand grabbed the back of my jumper, harshly tugging me away from Magnus, making my hand let go of his.

A large woman appears in front of me and suddenly I can no longer see Magnus or Jace.

"I don't believe that you actually tried to kill yourself- probably just some winey kid looking for attention, Camille is a great woman and she doesn't deserve what you and your little group of dick loving bitches are doing to her." The woman was clutching tightly onto my wrist, digging her nails into the still slightly healing scars making me wince.

"Ow! please stop that!" I cry but she just digs her nails in harder. I was expecting someone in the crowd to try and stop her, but they all just turned their cameras, almost blinding me with the flashes of their cameras.

She just scoffs once then uses her other hand to yank the sleeve of my jumper up. "Oh please, stop being pathetic." She spits at me, moving her body as if trying to let the cameras see the scars that up until now I had managed to keep hidden from anyone that wasn't Magnus, my family and friends.

As soon as people started to notice that my scars were on show, they began to yell things at me, the shoving got worse, and suddenly the woman was gone and the crowds were merging on me.

All their voices just sounded like they were one large noise, and I could no longer open my eyes due to the bright lights of the camera.

I was so distracted with trying to stay calm that I didn't feel someone dragging me through the crowd, not until The noise was dulled and the sound of a large door being slammed.

I allow my eyes to open, expecting to be met with the sight of more flashing cameras, only to see a familiar man standing in front of me.

"Magnus." I sigh in relief, I let my head fall forward until it's resting on his shoulder.

He hugs me back tightly. "It's okay darling, you're in here now with me and your family." He shushes me, almost rocking me slightly. "Are you okay?" He asks after a moment of silence.

I pull back to look at him, noticing that Mom was hovering just behind us.

I take a deep breath. "I'm okay, just some idiot thinking she has a say in this." I quickly pull down the sleeve of my jumper. Not wanting any more strangers to see it, in fact at this moment I didn't want anyone to see it.

Magnus shakes his head. "Some people just can't mind their own business but don't worry we are all here now, in fact, there are some people that want to meet you." Magnus steps back but takes a hold on my hand.

Mom comes forward and places a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay sweetheart?" She asks me.

I nod my head. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine," I say. "Where are Isabelle and Jace?" I look around for them, but I don't see anyone other than a couple of people milling around in suits.

Mom jerks her head to a door further up the entrance hallway. "They are in here, Jace wants you to meet his family- well the rest of his family, you've already met Stephen." Mom looks to me.

I turn my head to see Jace's father standing there. "He was the one brave enough to go back out there and get you," Magnus explains.

Jace's Dad scoffs. "I'm glad I did, got there just in time to grab you before you had a breakdown." He smiles at me. "I'm Jace's father, call me Stephen." He holds out a hand for me to shake, I take it in mine, his grip is firm as he shakes mine. "It's nice to meet you, Alec. Jace has told us so much about you already." I smile, knowing Jace would talk about us to anyone.

"It's nice to finally meet you too. I've heard about you from Will and Jem." I shake his hand once before letting it go. "And I'm glad Jace finally decided to get over his fears and speak to you." Stephen smiles at me too.

"Trust me, we all feel the same. But I do think my nieces are a little mad at Will for keeping it a secret." He motions with his hand, indicating that we should walk.

I take Magnus' hand before joining Stephen in walking towards the room. "I think Jace was glad for his discretion. What Camille did really mess Jace up." I shake my head before realizing that it was probably best not to talk about this with him.

I turn to apologize only to see Stephen looking at me. "Was it really that bad? Jace hasn't spoken about it yet, I think my mother is the only one who really knows what happened to him and she is waiting on Jace to tell us himself." Stephen looks at the floor, his face sad.

I automatically feel guilty for mentioning it. I turn to look at Magnus, he sends me an encouraging nod. I turn back to look at Stephen. "The good thing is that he is okay now. He has us and he has you guys, he has his whole family." I say and this seems to make Stephen happier.

"Yeah I'm glad we all have each other during this time... that includes the both of you, especially with what Will was done-"

"We don't blame Will for anything." Magnus cuts in.

I nod my head in agreement. "Yeah, Camille made us all do things we didn't want to do and regret doing, so I won't hold anything against any of us- it wasn't even us, it was Camille," I say as we get to the door.

Stephen just nods his head and gives us both a smile, he then reaches out to open the door.

Surprisingly as soon as the door opened we were met with the sound of laughter.

It was a nice atmosphere to walk into on a day like this.

Stephen was right, we are being a big family now. Camille had brought us all closer.

I just know that even after the trial, we are all going to be a tight nit family.

* * *

The trial was a lot worse than I thought it would be.

Not like Camille got off with less than she deserved, but it was just worse emotionally.

We were surprised when it turned out that Jace's grandmother couldn't actually be the judge of the trial now that she and others were aware of her relation to Jace. But It worked out well for us in the end as the woman who took her place was instantly recognized by mostly me and my family.

Jia Penhallow, the mother of Aileen.

Seeing her made me feel so much better about being given a new judge.

The feeling of relief only lasted so long as I was the first to stand up and give my statement, most of the people in the courtroom knew that as soon as I gave my statement, the whole thing would be over. The jury would be shocked enough to my story to make their decision. It was also good that after me and my tales of almost dying, Jace was up.

I tried my hardest not to look over at his family as he told the whole story of what Camille blackmailed him with and what she influenced him to do. It was easy to not look at them but it was hard to block out the soft sobbing coming from Jace's mother and cousins.

Even some of the more family related jury members were softly crying at Jace's tale. I could even feel the anger radiating off Imogen Herondale when she finds out that Camille deliberately held back information on her grandson. There was an angry mutter when Jace rattled off that information when he told them that Camille almost forced Jace into thinking he was worthless and not worth his own family.

I wasn't prepared to hear what Magnus said.

Some of the stuff he said was stuff I had never heard of before, and it honestly just made me much angrier at Camille.

For example, I didn't know that two years ago after some issues with his father, Magnus tried to kill himself... I wish I had known that before now.

Camille had been the one to save him from doing that. She was the one who found him in time, convinced him not to do it with her kind words.

Her kind words only lasted so long before she was tricking an under-aged Magnus into bed. What's even worse is that she apparently has pictures about the whole thing.

If that wasn't enough to make me feel sick. Hearing what she did to Simon was just as bad.

Simon's issues were close to Jace's. He was so worried to let his religious family know that he had feelings for more than just women. He didn't know at the time that half of his family already suspected it and were just waiting for him to come out.

Camille found Simon through Magnus and somehow got her claws deep into the boy. She manipulated him into thinking that he wasn't good enough for his family and that he was a disgrace to them and their religion. Apparently, it caused Simon to become very depressed and he began to hate himself and put a distance between his friends and family. He done exactly what Jace was done, he said nasty things to them to push them away. I think that's why Simon was so open to forgiving Jace when he did that to us. If it weren't for Magnus putting two and two together. Thanks to his amazing brain and his ability to talk to people when they need it the most, Magnus managed to make Simon see sense and come out to his family.

I remember seeing Jace close to tears the whole time he was listening to it. I also remembering meeting eyes with both Isabelle and Simon, all of us seemed to have the same thought. Jace was beating himself up inside because of what he did to Simon and how it was so close to what happened to Simon.

After Simon gave his statement, we were sent back into the room that we were in before the trial began.

That's where we were now.

I was sitting with Isabelle and Jace whilst Mum was off to the side talking to Stephen and Celine. Simon was off with his family and Magnus was with his mother. I was watching Magnus interact with her, she was crying and holding her son close. I'm guessing she didn't know about anything Magnus had said in his statement.

That makes two of us.

All I wanted to do was pull Magnus into my arms and apologize over and over. Surely it wasn't nice for him to go through that then see the same exact thing happen to someone he cared about, then I made him feel guilty about needing some time to make himself feel better... I am a horrible boyfriend.

"Can you both stop? I can literally smell the reek of guilt coming off the both of you." Isabelle complains before flicking Jace on the ear.

Jace shakes away from her, his eyes not moving from where Simon stands to smile at something his sister said. "I can't Isabelle- After everything he went through- I did what I did to him... pushed him away when we had feelings for each other, made him feel like he wasn't good enough-" Jace cuts off when his voice becomes too thick and tight.

He drops his head into his hands.

"I can't believe I did it too- I'm so selfish for what I put him through," I say, not surprised to feel tears in my eyes. Jace nods his head to my words. "and I know what you are going to say Isabelle- that I didn't know and I couldn't have known but it still happened and I still made him feel guilty, forced him to push aside his own feelings just because I needed him." I wipe away the wetness on my cheeks angrily but they are soon replaced with more.

Isabelle raises a hand to place a hand on each of our cheeks. "Neither of you deserve this." She whispers then closes her eyes for a moment. "Look. I know you won't believe me but, Magnus and Simon not telling you weren't your faults and it was up to them. Maybe they weren't ready to share that part of their life- maybe they want to move on from it, they have this new life and they both have new loves in their lives that are a lot brighter than what they have had in the past... you can't blame yourself for doing what you did- even if you didn't know that Magnus and Simon went through the same thing. You felt that pain too, just like them you didn't know how to handle it or how to make it better. You can't be angry at yourselves for this because you didn't know and you were driven to do insane and heart-breaking things by an evil woman- so please stop putting yourselves down." Her hand moves from our faces to rest on our shoulders. "Because I am sick and tired of seeing my brothers hurting."

I let my head fall forward, tears still silently streaming down my face and my breathing turning harsh and breathy. I knew what Isabelle was saying is true, if Magnus didn't want to tell me then I should respect that because It wasn't my fault, I couldn't have known if he didn't want me to.

I just couldn't help it. I just can't help but feel guilty for putting Magnus through what I did.

"Are we interrupting?" A familiar voice makes me look up. Standing just behind Isabelle was Clary, Simon, and Magnus himself.

His eyes directly find me, they automatically widen and concern fills them. "Alexander? darling what's wrong?" Magnus walks up and almost pushes Isabelle out of the way to place his hands on my face. "Hey? why are you crying?" He asks softly, wiping away the tears on my cheeks.

I just shake my head against his hands. "I- I'm sorry," I whisper to him, lowering my eyes, letting them focus on the buttons of his blazer. "I wish I had known." I finish.

Magnus moves my head back up, forcing me to look him in the eye. "Alexander. Don't tell me you are blaming yourself for what Camille did to me?" Magnus sounded annoyed. "And let me guess." Magnus turns his head to look at Jace.

I follow his eyes, looking at Jace myself. He was sitting wringing his hands and not looking up from the floor. "Jace here feels the same way because of Simon?" Magnus guesses, making Jace flinch slightly.

"What? Jace, you can- you can't possibly blame yourself for that." Simon looked shocked that either of us would even think that. But it's not even true, that's not the reason why we're both upset.

I shake my head from Magnus' grip. "That's not it," I say, moving to look at them. Isabelle and Clary were standing there, both of them a little to the side so we could have our moment to talk in peace. "I don't blame myself for what she did but I do blame myself for making you feel pain... I wish I had known what she had done to you, I wish I had known that you needed time after what I did but I forced you into forgiving me so quickly, forced you into not taking the time you need to-"

"Alexander, that's not how it was at all." Magnus is quick to pull me into a hug. "Baby, if it was a problem I would have told you. It really wasn't an issue. I had people there that helped me after what she did to me, you obviously needed me and I wasn't there. I love you, Alexander. That's why I was there, and it was in no way because you forced me." He runs a hand through my hair and I allow my face to press against his shoulder.

"Don't tell me you are thinking the same thing, Jace?" I could hear Simon talk.

"Oh, he for sure does. I don't think he has quite forgiven himself for anything he has ever done since he got here." Isabelle helpfully puts in. I move my face until my cheek is resting against Magnus' shoulder so I can see what is going on with Simon and Jace.

Simon looks from Jace to Isabelle then back to Jace. "What do you mean by that?" Simon asks her, even though I am pretty sure he knows.

"He hasn't forgiven himself for the way your relationship started," Isabelle confirms. "And now he hates that he has caused you pain because what he did is apparently so "similar" to what Camille did to you." Simon lets out a breathy laugh.

"Jace, you can't be serious?" Simon places a hand under Jace's chin, forcing him to look up. "What you did was nothing like Camille... are you insane. She did it to be cruel but you did it because you were still struggling to come out yourself. Why would I blame you for feeling the way I once did and handling it the same way." Simon leaned down to kiss the top of Jace's head. "Honestly Jace, please stop blaming yourself. I don't blame you at all, I love you." Jace closed his eyes and leans into Simon's hand.

"I'm sorry." Jace breathes out then moves his head to look at Simon properly. "I just can't help it, but I will try to do better... I promise." Jace pulls Simon in close. "I love you too." He finishes. "And I'll be here for you, now that I know the truth."

"Good. I'll hold you to that, now c'mon Mom wants to talk to you." Simon steps back, only keeping a hold on Jace's hand, pulling him up as he takes a couple of steps back from us.

Jace gets up and walks with Simon over to Simon's family.

"Now." Magnus surprises me by pulling back to look me in the eye. "I want you to tell me how you felt about the trial, and not about me and what I said." Magnus runs his hands up and down my arms.

I just smile softly. "Hearing what you had to go through was the worst part of the whole thing. It was just weird to hear what your life was like before I existed in it." I shrug my shoulders softly.

Magnus just grins. "Yes it was very dull before you were in it, but then I met you and you made it so much better, you gave me a life that I was finally happy to live." Magnus touches my cheek softly.

"My life after what Camille did to me is nothing compared to what I have now. Sure I had my Mom and our friends, but honestly darling. You are my life now before you I was nothing." Magnus rests his head against mine. "I love you and it doesn't matter what she did to me, or what you didn't know because you know now and we both can move on from this." I smile.

"All we need to do is get through the rest of today," I say with a small sigh.

"Don't worry about that Alec, I think today is almost over." Isabelle pokes my arm, bringing our attention away from each other and back to the room.

I look over to the door to see that our lawyer has come back into the room. "They have come to a conclusion. They need you all back in... don't worry it's over." He grins at us all.

* * *

You could barely hear the judge over the sounds of cheering from all of us and the people that were on our side. I was aware of someone hugging me but I was so zoned out at the time, that I didn't even get to hear the verdict.

I was too caught up in the belief that it was actually over that I never got to hear what Camille got.

"Wait-" I tried to ask someone but I was cut off by a pair of familiar lips being pressed to mine roughly. I caught the person in my arms, knowing that it was Magnus but not being able to share his joy as I didn't know what to be happy about. He pulled back from me and was smiling so brightly that I couldn't help but smile back.

"Alexander, this is amazing! she got exactly what she deserved! " Magnus cries in joy.

I give out a nervous laugh. "Yeah- we uh are finally free." I agree, hugging him close to me.

"Free for a whole twenty years." Magnus holds me tightly. "It's so much more than I was expecting, but I guess people saw just how vile she was." He kisses my cheek.

Wait- she got twenty years? Magnus was right, twenty years is much more than I was expecting her to get. But I'm not complaining, she deserved all the time in the world for all that she has done.

At least now we and all the other people she has ever hurt can finally have some peace from her and all the trouble she has caused. I just can't wait for our lives to go back to normal. Now that everyone that ever threatened me or the people that I love is out of our lives.

First, it was Dad and now Camille.

I could face anything else anyone could throw at me next.

* * *

After the trial had officially eneded. Magnus' mother invited us all back to their home for a celebration.

I don't think I had seen Magnus look so full of life, not like he did in this moment. It was nice to just sit back and watch him have his moment. His good mood made everyone else's good mood even better. Even Raphael was cheery and that's the weirdest thing I have seen so far.

"Hey." Someone nudges up to me and plonks down next to me on the sofa I had been sitting on since we got here. I turn to see Clary sitting and offering me a drink. "It's not alcoholic, don't worry." She says with a grin. She was getting to know me so well.

"Thanks," I say, smiling back at her. "How are you?" I ask as I take the drink from her hand.

She shrugs. "I'm not the one who should be getting asked that. I'm just happy that you can all move on from this." She takes a sip of her own drink. "And it just sucks that your life has been ruled over by this for most of the time you have been here. At least now we can all spend more time with each other without worrying so much." She leans her head against my shoulder.

I huff out a small laugh. "Yeah it has been a pretty stressful time, but I wouldn't change it. It's been a hell of a lot better here than it was back in New York... at least here I had people like you and Magnus." I rest my head on hers.

"I do have to admit everyone has been much happier in the long run with you all around, despite a few hiccups here and there." She nods her head towards where Simon and Jace were cuddled up against the wall beside the window. "Do you know, if I'm being completely honest, I thought I would be the one out of us to end up with Jace." Clary muses.

I snort. "Really? You'd want to date Jace?" I ask, not really believing her.

"No. I'm more than happy with Isabelle, but that's still new... just at first before I saw how much Simon liked him, I thought we'd be good together, but not anymore." She smiles. "Not now that I have seen those two together." she shakes her head. "I didn't see it at first, not like how I saw you and Magnus being right together before you had even met him." My eyes find Magnus as she says this.

He was with Mom and Isabelle. They were laughing about something and it made a part of my flutter inside to see Magnus getting on so well with my family. It was amazing and I don't think I would ever get used to it.

But then again I was still getting used to having a boyfriend so open and loved in my life without having to worry about my father or being disowned.

"I'm not even surprised. I remember you telling me about him on the first day. Out of everyone, that's why you said and I don't think I could be unhappy about that ever." I say.

"Well, I'm glad I could do that for you." She says I notice her looking over in the same direction I was looking in. It took me a moment to realize why she was looking.

"Well I'm glad that Isabelle has you, out of everyone she has ever dated, I'm glad in the end she has someone like you," I say, just as Isabelle herself turns to look at us, catching us red-handed staring at them.

She turns her body to face us and raises an eyebrow in question. She hits Magnus' arm to get his attention then she points him over to us. Mom laughs at us then backs away to go talk to someone else.

Magnus walks over with Isabelle following behind him. "What has captured your attention, my love?" Magnus asks before dropping himself onto my knee.

Clary moves from my shoulder, giving Magnus room to wrap his arms around my neck.

"Nothing, just Alec getting all sappy," Clary answers for me.

Isabelle laughs as she sits next to Clary. "Aw big brother, that's cute." Isabelle coos.

"Shut up." I snap before shoving my face into Magnus' neck. "Clary started it, and think before your next words Fray, remember what you just told me." I remind her, because wouldn't it be sweet if Jace found out that Clary had a slight interest when they first met.

"Ooh, now I'm interested." Magnus laughs.

"It's nothing, drop it lightwood." Clary laughs then elbows my side.

"Whatever," I mumble before turning my attention to Magnus.

"Hey," I say softly before pressing a kiss to his jaw.

"Hey yourself, you okay?" Magnus asks me, one hand coming up to gently brush over my cheek.

I smile, catching his hand in mine, pressing soft kisses to the back of it. "I'm perfect, and I'm just glad to be here with you."

Magnus smiles back at me, leaning his forehead against mine. "I'm glad to be with you too my love."

I couldn't believe this man was mine, and how in love I was in with him after such a short time knowing him. At least now I have him and we can move on with our lives, we still have so much to witness and do together.

I couldn't wait.

"I love you so much," I whisper, closing my eyes and just resting with him.

"I love you too, Alexander, always." He promises.

I'll make sure to hold him to that.

As long as he is my life, I will hold him to that promise.

And hopefully, that is a long time.

A really long time.


End file.
